


Briar Rose

by Yidenia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Guardian-Ward Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-02-13 15:50:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2156292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yidenia/pseuds/Yidenia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The muggle studies professor?" Lily blinked. "Why are you scared of her? She seems nice and all of her students say that she's the coolest teacher ever."<br/>"I'm not scared," Severus spat with contempt, even though he was. "Who is she, really? And how does she know so much about me? What does she want?" </p><p>A mysterious professor takes Severus under her wing; whether he likes it or not. Time travel, Semi-AU, no OC protagonist. Please read and review!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

            She sat in the office across from the headmaster’s chair. Dumbledore was watering Fawkes’ bowl, and she looked up during the relative silence to regard the Sorting Hat, silent and still as it always was except on the first evening of the school year.

            “You say you studied witchcraft in America,” the wizard remarked casually, “yet your accent sounds like you came from London.”

            “I spent the first ten years of my life in London,” said Briar, tucking her short blonde hair behind her ear, “and I have come back a few times to visit family.”

            “I see.” Dumbledore walked slowly to his seat, sitting down as if with effort, though Briar knew this was just for show. “And you wish to return to Britain, which is not unusual, but why Hogwarts?”

            She drew on her training and folded her fingers, looking very relaxed even though she felt a little intimidated by his steady regard. “I often wished I could have gone to Hogwarts as a student. I have heard many tales of it in America, and I know that this institution is the best on the continent.”

            “And what do you plan on bringing to this institution?”

            _I will bring change to defend against the war._ Except there was no war yet, because the year was 1969, but she wanted to establish her post before Severus arrived.

            “My goal is to teach innovation,” she replied, “because the advantages of Muggle Studies is not simply knowing pop culture references and the names for their various technology, but to understand the thinking process that led up to these inventions. These days, the Wizarding World has been favoring the old and known, and shunning the new and strange. Tradition has its values, but one must be able to adapt to change, or lead the charge. Hogwarts happens to be the best setting to train such individuals.”

            She could not tell if Dumbledore knew she was hiding something. He did not always know the exact secret, she had learned over the years, but he did know when there _was_ one.

            “I fear in today’s atmosphere, it would be hard to convince most wizards that muggles have anything they can learn from,” said the headmaster, showing a pessimism Briar had never expected—but then he was always a complicated man.

            “The world is not changed all at once,” she replied.

            “No, it is not,” he agreed.

            He asked her a few more questions before ending the interview, telling her that he needed to discuss with the rest of the faculty, but that he thought she would be a very promising addition to their team.

* * *

 

            She had forgotten what it was like.

            The Great Hall loomed tall with its magical sky that flickered with stars. Candles floated below, hovering above the tables. The upper years already sat at the tables, chattering to each other. She saw Ivana, currently a second-year, gesture to a fellow Gryffindor named Daren, who would one day be her husband. Right now, however, they were just friends, and a little intimidated by each other.

            “About twelve or so students are complete Muggle-born every year,” McGonagall explained, looking so young with her dark hair and smoother skin, “so it is usually a great culture shock for them. About five every year are also international, usually hailing from Eastern Europe. There’s apparently some kind of conflict going on in the muggle realm, I believe they call it the ‘Cold War’.”

            “Yes,” said Briar, remembering how she use to watch the television with her family. This was also the year that man landed on the moon. It was odd how such things that use to be close to her felt so far away now.

            McGonagall leaned over to the other side for a moment before turning back.

            “Well, I must go collect the first-years; they have finally arrived!” she grinned, looking surprisingly enthusiastic. Briar contemplated her as she left. McGonagall had always seemed so stern. Was she always so excited about students? Perhaps Briar was simply mature enough to read her better.

            Left to her own thoughts for a moment, Briar stared at the table, her hands clasped together on top of it, her fingers and wrists bare. She had one year to figure out how to approach Severus and save him from his destiny, but she was not sure where to even begin. Severus was not a particularly trusting child; he only reached out to Lily Evans because he already liked her, although perhaps he was also more innocent then. The girl simply had to accept him.

            _She’s just jealous. That she’s ordinary, and you’re special._

            “Professor Rose, you look deep in thought.”

            Briar looked up. “Professor Manley.”

            Manley, not astonishingly, would only be the Defense professor for a year. She had met him once before, when they were both introduced as the new faculty at Hogwarts, and she could already see the reason why; he was a sleaze, and was eyeing Briar like she was his next meal. Briar wished she had a ring, though she did not hope it would dissuade him.

            “First day is always a hard day, eh?” he smirked, perhaps thinking himself charming. He was not unattractive of face, and he was tall with broad shoulders, with a chiseled chin and an easy charisma that might fool lesser women. It was just his misfortune that Briar was no ordinary witch.

            “You must be even more anxious,” she said. “You must defeat great odds.”

            “Eh, you only live once,” said the wizard, grinning broadly at her.

            Briar swallowed her own smile. What a fool.

            “You know what I always find interesting?” he pointed across to the Slytherin table. Briar could see Lucius Malfoy quite clearly; he was a sixth year this year, that scowl still in place, but with that teenage awkwardness that all sixteen-year-old males have. She almost smiled again, because for all his pretenses, he really was also just a child.

            Though a child beyond saving.

            “They always have these scowls on their faces,” Manley remarked, “Just look at them. It is like they do not want to be here. I always think people wear their disposition on their faces, somewhere and somehow. A house full of bullies. Look at Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff. They look like they are eager to have new members. The Slytherins? I would bet that the first thing they plan on doing once we leave this hall is to haze the first years.”

            His remark gave Briar pause. She did not know what living with Slytherins was like. She had not even thought of hazing, even though she should know. She should have thought of it.

            She should have thought of a lot of things.

            “Thank you, Professor Manley.”

            “Hm?”

            She smiled at the idiot. Help comes from odd places sometimes. “You are truly an insightful man.”

            The doors opened, and all chatter ceased. The Deputy Headmistress walked in with the Sorting Hat on her head. She was going to have to speak with the hat after the ceremony.

* * *

 

            September 2nd in 1969 was a Tuesday, which meant Briar had classes from eight to twelve and then from one-thirty to two-thirty. As with all electives, she taught by year and all of the houses were mixed together. She started with the third-years.

            “Welcome to Muggle Studies,” she said to the classroom. There were five Slytherins, much to her surprise; she had not realized that the house had been so open to muggles before Voldemort started riling up supporters, even though they still wore expressions like they were facing an enemy on the battlefield.

            “This course will be a little different from your other courses,” she told her students. “You will have lectures, of course, to familiarize yourself with muggle customs, but in fact this may not be very useful to you. There are many muggle cultures, and if you should ever be stranded without a Knight Bus to help you, it is a simple matter of identifying yourself as a rather secluded individual, and people would not think you odd for being ignorant of modern ways. Therefore, this class will focus more on what will help you as witches and wizards once you leave Hogwarts.”

            She was using her Auror Voice, a fairly imperious, commanding, and authoritative voice, so the students were already regarding her with attention, if not wariness. It was fine if they were afraid of her; Briar was not here to be loved. She was here to bide her time until September of next year.

            “There will be no exams in this course,” she went on, “although I will give optional quizzes for you to take for your OWLs. These are ungraded and for your benefit alone. Your assessment for this class will be based on a project that you will work on in a team of four. You cannot select only from your house. You must mingle, and this project will be done without the use of magic.”

            The students looked at each other, though they seemed unconcerned. They probably figured that anything Muggle had to be easy, even without wands. Briar resisted a smirk.

            “We will discuss your project later in the year, as you will spend this semester being equipped with what you need to know. Any questions before we begin?”

* * *

 

            “I thought I would check on how your first day went,” said Dumbledore, looking around at Briar’s office. “No photos?”

            “Perhaps later. Please, have a seat.”

            “Thank you.” Dumbledore sat easily enough. “Already grading, Professor?”

            “No,” Briar looked down at her desk. It was quite bare so far, empty of decorations, and the drawers held nothing as well. There was only an inkstand for her quill, a few tomes she planned on using as reading and reference, and the scrolls for her syllabus. “Reviewing the syllabus. It is nothing major.”

            “The students behaved themselves today?”

            “Quite. They all seemed interested; Muggle Studies is not something people take if they are not.”

            “Naturally. If you need any help, of course, you can always come to me, or Minerva, Filius, Pomona, or Horace.”

            “Of course.” He had told her this before.

            He chatted some more with her as she ordered tea from the house-elves. It was so strange to watch him engage in small-talk. He seemed guileless, as if genuinely interested in simply making conversation with her, but Briar had the nagging feeling that he was still searching her, even after hiring her.

            He probably thought she was hiding something, but there was no way for him to understand until she allowed him to. She only hoped that her secrecy would not alienate him. Dumbledore, occasionally to his detriment, had a tendency to forget that others have the right to their secrets, just as he had the right to his. He was not a bad man; he was just so use to needing to be in the know that now he did it without a second thought. He did not seem to feel the need to use legilimency on her yet, but there might come a time when he would change his mind.

            Still, Dumbledore had the uncanny ability to say the right things and ask the right questions. He looked out the window as Briar stared at his beard. It was a lot darker than she remembered.

            “What do you think the world will be like, ten years from now?” he asked without turning to face her.

            _“Filthy mudblood…”_

_“…they were tortured…”_

_“…the Dark Mark…”_

“Hard to say,” said Briar. “Why?”

            “When you get to my age,” said the Headmaster, still looking contemplative, “you don’t take anything for granted.”

            _You have no idea._ “I’m sure whatever comes, we will prevail.”

            He looked at her and smiled. “I shan’t take more of your time, Professor. Thank you for our chat.”

* * *

 

            On Saturday, Briar went to Spinner’s End.

            The Snape residence was dark and gloomy, and the windows were black. She stood on the sidewalk with a Notice-Me-Not charm, because she did not want any of the Snapes to realize she was watching them. The house was silent, as it usually was. No hint of the tumult, of the screaming and weeping.

            She wished she could take Severus from this place now, instead of waiting for five to six years. Eileen Snape was due to die shortly before he turned fifteen. It was probably the year he started alienating himself from Lily Evans. Eileen was a bad mother, a stupid woman for all her talents as a witch. Though Briar could understand how the mentality of a victim of abuse could trap someone, she could never forgive what this woman’s cowardice and foolishness did to her child. However, she also knew how much Severus had depended on her, for all her own form of abuse and neglect, her failures to protect her child even if she could not protect herself.

            Family was still family, and Severus had loved her, had wished for her attention, some gesture or word from her that he was loved in return.

            Perhaps Eileen did love Severus, as battered as she was, but Briar did not really care.

            She left her post in front of the house after about an hour or so, with no movement at all from the residence and no sign of either Severus or Lily. The witch headed down to the river, brown and sluggish in its flow. The abandoned mill creaked with the wind, somewhat like the Shrieking Shack, except less spooky and more pitiful.

            The red-haired Lily emerged, Severus just behind her. She was vibrant, pale as snow with hair bright like fire. She wore a bright pink dress with white flowers and a comely ribbon in her hair. In contrast, Severus was like a phantom, skin sallow without any healthy red, hair limp and black, with trousers much too large for him, folded at the ankles, and a shirt that looked even bigger than his pants.

They popped out from behind the mill and headed upstream to where Briar stood, though neither noticed her. She watched as the two children headed up to the main street, where Lily took leave of her friend to head to her happier home.

            Lily meant well, but she was truly an ignorant, naïve child.

            Briar waited with Severus, who looked after her for a long while. Lily never turned back to see her friend watch her. Once Lily was out of sight, the boy turned and went to his own bleak house. The door opened and closed, after which silence fell.

            This will be a long year.

            Briar regarded the house again, before apparating away.


	2. The Woeful Child is Come

            In the shadows of the trail, Lily was silent beside him. He stared ahead at the looming castle with intense longing. So the train ride had not been to his expectations, and part of him dreaded the thought that this was all an omen—that Potter and Black were only the start of a new chapter of misery that was his life, but maybe all would be better once they were actually at Hogwarts. Mum always did say that everything was better there.

            A witch, with a tall pointed hat on her head, stood at the gates. Their half-giant guide walked up to her with a genial greeting. After a few exchanges, the witch turned to them.

            “Welcome to Hogwarts,” said she, “I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of this school. We will begin the start-of-term banquet shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony. While you are here, your house will be your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.”

            Lily gripped his sleeve, perhaps thinking he would be more use to this, but Severus was as astounded and nervous as she. He had told her about the Sorting, just as his Mum told him, but it was another thing to face it in person.

            “The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarted yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.” She glanced over at Severus, who felt his face heat up. Potter and Black snickered to the side. He looked down at his old, moth-eaten robes, wishing there were a way to make them look presentable. It stung even worse than when Potter and Black had made fun of him on the train.

            “I’ll be back when we’re ready for you,” said Professor McGonagall, and with a swirl of her polished black robes, she spun to enter through the gates.

            “It’s okay,” Lily whispered to him; she had noticed the look the woman had given, as well as the laughter from their peers. “I’m sure it doesn’t matter in the long run.”

            Severus did not answer. Nothing ever went well for him. He should have known better than to think Hogwarts was any different.

            When they were finally led in, Severus could not help but stare around him in wonder. Against the dismal, grey backdrop of his home, the Great Hall was bright, warm, and full of cheer overlapping its elegance. He had never set foot in a place even half as luxurious, with the golden beams along the sides of the walls, the shining red wooden tables, the stain-glass windows. There were students already at the tables, all watching the first-years enter. Some of them waved at their younger siblings, though most of the first-years were the first children from their families to enter. There was a low din of murmuring voices, some excited, others contemplative.

             Professor McGonagall stood in front of the faculty table. Her hat was off her head and was instead on a stand. There was a chair, presumably for a student to sit in.

            “The Sorting Ceremony will begin,” she announced, and the low hum of conversation died to absolute silence.

            Then, just as Mum had told him, the hat suddenly had a face as the cloth wrinkled forwards and it opened its mouth.

_“Forty little lives before me,_   
_Each with his own fate._   
_Four paths to walk within these halls,_   
_Which I will now dictate:_

_"One Gryffindor, the golden ones,_   
_The proud and brave and strong,_   
_With destinies of fame and might,_   
_For both the right and wrong._

_"Then Hufflepuff, the steadfast knights,_   
_Whose hearts are pure and true,_   
_And will see fruits for all their work,_   
_And see all their oaths through._

_"While Ravenclaw, to wisely know,_   
_And seek for wit and mind,_   
_Reach heights of prestige and esteem,_   
_To advance wizard-kind._

_"And Slytherin, the clever ones,_   
_The cunning, quick, and sly,_   
_Where they can wander through the murk,_   
_So they can find the sky._

_"So which path will you start tonight?_   
_Allow me to case your head,_   
_From starting point to finish-line,_   
_Let your purpose be read!”_

            There was an awkward clap, as Mum predicted; no one ever really knew what to do with these songs. Lily turned to Severus with a huge grin on her face; she had never seen anything like this. Severus smiled back.

_Please put me in Slytherin, like Mum, and put Lily there too, so we can be together._

            McGonagall called out several names. Severus wanted to talk to Lily, but they were both too nervous to break the silence. Sirius Black went up, along with several others whose last names were in the front of the alphabet.

            “Gryffindor!” the hat placed Black, which caused a mild commotion in both Gryffindor and Slytherin. The boy cheerfully headed over to the Gryffindor table, purposefully ignoring the tumult he just caused.

            “Slytherin!”

            “Hufflepuff!”

            “Lily Evans!” the Deputy Headmistress summoned. Severus gave Lily’s hand a quick squeeze before she went up to the chair.

_Please put her in Slytherin too. Or Ravenclaw. Just not—_

            “Gryffindor!”

            At least Lily looked as bemused as Severus. She looked over to where Black was, before slowly making her way there. Her eyes connected to Severus’s as she took a seat.

 _Of course nothing will go right._ Severus glared at the faculty table. One pretty blonde woman, hair shorn short in a pixie cut, was looking right at him. He blinked. Either she was not actually looking at him, or she was staring at his drab attire.

            He leveled a scowl at her. He had enough for the day.

            She tilted her head without moving her eyes or changing her expression. Severus looked away. At least she was not laughing.

            “Alice Longbottom!”

            “Dennis Meary!”

            “Fina Ng!”

            “James Potter!”

 _He_ was put in Gryffindor, of course. Even Severus knew that the Potters would never be placed anywhere else, although Sirius Black did break convention by not being placed in Slytherin.

            “Severus Snape!”

 _Here goes._ The walk to the front was torturous, because he knew everyone was staring at him and they could see his mismatched robes, his limp hair, everything that everyone else had made fun of before. To her credit, Professor McGonagall did not acknowledge his attire again, simply letting him sit before placing the hat over his head.

**_Ahhh, Severus Snape. Here you are at last._ **

             Severus blinked. _It was expecting me?_

**_Yes, I was indeed. You have a very concerned friend who wishes the best for you. I did not promise anything other than that I will take it into consideration. I see…your mother was a Slytherin, and you wish to join her house. You certainly have what it takes: cleverness, wit, the ambition to rise above the state you are in, to claim the prestige and respect that you currently lack. There is a darkness in you, fostered by loneliness and neglect, from living in fear and desolation. You may fit well with the Slytherins, child, but I fear you will not thrive as you expect._ **

             Severus blinked again. Mum never said that this would happen. She said the hat would make a few comments, but nothing that made much sense. Not that these words made much sense either, although they pierced into his heart and drove tears to his eyes.

 _Will I ever thrive?_ Came the thought, unbidden—he was a mistake, unwanted, the trash in the streets, an infection on the skin and mind. It seemed like nothing could go right in his life except Lily, who was now in Gryffindor and would probably leave him for her shinier, brighter friends.

 ** _Hard to say, young one,_** said the hat. **_Those who shine now darken later, and those who are born to rags find riches in the end. Childhood friends drift apart, and young rivals become close as brothers. However, where you start also determines your destiny. You are brave and proud like a Gryffindor, loyal like a Hufflepuff, and you aspire to wisdom and knowledge like a Ravenclaw. Slytherin is not the only house where you might fit._**

 _I want my mother to be proud of me._ This time, tears did trickle down his cheek, and he was glad that the hat was so large that it covered his face. _If I can’t be in Slytherin, she never will._

 ** _A good mother will want what is best for her son,_** said the hat, its voice gentle and caring. Strange how besides Lily, only a hat had ever sounded that way when speaking to him. Everyone else talked to him like he was a rat, a pest, something evil and to be avoided. Even Lily’s parents.

_I want people to care. I don’t want them to kick me aside. When I grow up, I want to be important. Great. A hero._

**_In that case…_ **

             “Ravenclaw!”

* * *

            “Welcome to Ravenclaw, mate,” an arm slipped around his shoulders instantly as he sat down, and a hand dabbed at his wet cheeks with a sleeve. He leaned away, ashamed. “Hey, when I was a first-year, I cried too, though I was afraid that I wouldn’t be put in _any_ house. I might have cried tears of happiness after the Sorting, though it's all kind of a blur now.”

            "It's because you're an idiot, Aiden."

            "Oh be quiet, like you were any better."

            It was a Chinese boy, or at least an Asian boy; from the looks of it, he seemed to be a fourth year. Severus looked around. The other first-years were staring at the senior with subdued awe and bemusement; upper-years did not make a point of sitting with the first-years on the first night.

            “Name’s Aiden Ho, and shut up,” the latter being directed at his fellow upper-years, who were sniggering, though this was good-natured. “Merlin, you people need to grow up.”

            “Mr. Ho.”

            “Ho-boy.”

            Aiden was grinning, so he must not be offended by the name-calling, and the others looked at him with enough fondness that Severus was not sure if he _should_ be offended. He knew that if anyone called _him_ a name, like the way Potter and Black did on the train, he would be so angry. He marveled that this upper-year was so laid-back.

            “Severus Snape, right?” Aiden went on, “Muggleborn or half-blood?”

            “I’m _not_ muggleborn!” Severus snapped, harsher than he meant to. Even though Lily was muggleborn, he hated muggles. He could not imagine what life would have been like if _both_ of his parents were like his father.

            “Hey, nothing wrong with that,” Aiden raised his hand up, while the other first-years looked disconcerted. “Sure, some muggleborns are idiots, like Mel here—“

            “Hey!”

            “But some are nice enough.”

            Conversation died for a moment as the rest of the first-years were sorted. Severus stared at the table, feeling like he had failed before he had even begun. He glanced up at the faculty table. The blonde-haired, green-eyed professor was looking at him again. She had a small smile on her face.

            Severus sneered and tore his eyes away. Probably mocking him again, like everyone did.

            “I don’t know about Gryffindors,” Aiden caught his attention, “but if your lady-friend ever wants to join you at mealtimes, she’s welcome at this table, okay?”

            If Severus had not felt so relieved by the offer, he would have realized that it was bizarre for someone like Aiden to single Lily out when he would not have known to pay attention to Severus before he was sorted.

            The sorting was over with a boy in Hufflepuff, and as everyone started talking in anticipation of the dinner, the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, rose from his seat.

            “Welcome to our new students,” said the old wizard, “and congratulations on beginning a very, very special journey in your wizarding career. For those of us who are new to the wizarding world: welcome. We are very excited to have you all here, and we look forward to a wonderful seven years together.

            “Now that the Sorting Ceremony is over, we will present the Welcoming Feast. However, before we start, I have a few notes for all students regarding this academic year. First, may I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Cunningham.” He gestured, and said professor, a middle-aged man with brown-grey whiskers, rose from his seat to moderate applause.

            “Second, I have been requested to mention that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden, as always, and no students are to enter its borders.”

            _Ha,_ thought Severus. _As if the name was not clue enough._

            “Finally, my final words before we begin: Tupperwack, Figitus, Mumsey, Roleki!”

            With that, the tables were suddenly covered with all sorts of dishes. Severus stared at them in amazement; Mum had mentioned that there would be food, but never had he seen anything like this!

* * *

 

            “My man, don’t choke on the stuff now,” Aiden said good-naturedly, though the other first-years were also wolfing down the dinner. They had introduced themselves when they started: there was Mia Widehand, a curly blonde with blue eyes and dimples in her cheeks. Terrace Bloom was a pureblood, a brown-haired, brown-eyed boy from Wales. Ami Lubayashi was a Japanese pureblood, who seemed even shyer than Severus. Henry and Adam Kisher were twins who were more inclined to stick together. Several others Severus could not remember, although he had the rest of the year to.

            “Can you tell us about the teachers?” Terrace asked Aiden, since he seemed the most approachable of the upper-years.

            “Not much to say. Beware of Professor McGonagall. You don’t want her to catch you doing anything stupid, because she’s pretty strict and to the letter, which can be annoying. Fair, though. You can’t argue that she’s not fair, so as long as you behave, you shouldn’t have to worry. I don’t know about the DADA professor; he’s new. They’ve been switching every year for as long as I was here, not sure why they never stay. Something always goes wrong. At least one of them had an affair with a student, I think. That’s how the rumours go, but you know, rumours.”

            “Yeah,” Henry agreed.

            “Now Professor Rose,” said Aiden, and he pointed at the blonde woman who was currently eating her own meal, so her eyes were not on Severus, for once. “She is probably the best teacher in the history of Hogwarts. It’s a pity she teaches Muggle Studies, I almost feel like her talents are wasted on an elective. She should be teaching something that all students are required to take, like Transfiguration or Charms. And she’s downright good at those too; she’s not as good as Professor Flitwick only because she’s younger. And she kicked last year’s DADA professor like there is no shame.”

            “Wow.” Some of this was going over the first-year’s heads, but they were impressed because they knew they should be.

            “She’s _really_ nice. Not ‘walk-over-her’ kind of nice; she has a spine and I’ve seen her use it, but she doesn’t really take points off and she’s always available to tutor anyone in any subject. Some of the upper-year Gryffindors are trying to find her a boyfriend. What idiots. I, for one, hope she stays single for as long as she can bear, because as soon as she has a man, forget it. No time for us anymore. She probably might even leave Hogwarts altogether. In any case, she’s here now,” and he nudged Severus in the shoulder; Severus could not help but feel that Aiden might be making a point specifically to _him—_ but that was impossible. He was just Severus Snape. He was nobody. “If you ever need any help, whatsoever, go to her. She’ll sort it out. Even if you did something wrong, if you go to her, she’ll help you out.”

            Severus stared at her. Rose was quite beautiful and young; she could not be more than in her mid-twenties. Platinum blonde hair, fair skin, green eyes, slender frame. She looked up and met his gaze. A soft smile was on her face again, but this time, Severus did not feel that she was laughing at him.

            He was not sure if she knew him somehow, or he knew her.


	3. The First Day for a Second Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love all the ideas you are coming up with as to who Briar Rose is and how she'll influence Severus for the better. I won't say whether or not any of you are correct, but I'm glad you're all interested! I'm hoping that even if you are finding me unfair with how I'm revealing these hints and hiding others, in the end you'd be satisfied with who Briar Rose really is. I'm reading all of your reviews and they make me so happy! Keep giving me suggestions. I'm probably not going to make Briar Rose do something very overt yet; she needs to avoid looking like a creep, after all, but I am making notes for later. Keep the comments coming!

            After the fourth-year prefects led them to their dorms, Aiden, who surprisingly was not a prefect, held Severus’s shoulder and crouched down to talk to him. Severus had been lost in thought—he could not believe that in the matter of moments his life had switched from the Slytherin track to the Ravenclaw track—

            “You come to me if anyone gives you any trouble, okay mate?” he straightened out Severus’s robes. He was tall and lanky, but his sheer size dwarfed Severus almost as much as an adult. “I heard that some buffoons were giving you lip on the train earlier. That’s not hip at all. I know what it’s like. I came from China a few years ago. Whole family came to London. We were dressed in these brown pajamas-like shirt and pants ensemble that everyone wore back then; they were totally fugly. You have no idea. And there we were, surrounded by all these hip cocktail dresses and western suits. People would point to us and laugh.”

            Aiden was dressed as stylishly as any normal student at Hogwarts, but Severus could not help believing him. There was something about the older boy that made him feel at ease. He was no Slytherin, and that would always be against his favor, but Severus gravitated toward him despite his derision of Ravenclaws in general. Brainy, but not particularly useful, he thought. Except Aiden’s tall shadow was comforting, and Severus needed that, even if he could not articulate it.

            He did not question how Aiden knew about how Potter and Black had mocked him, or why he chose to be a big sib of sorts. He was afraid to know.

* * *

            ~~“We are Slytherin,” said the prefect. “but just because the hat sorted you into this house, doesn’t mean you can just waltz in and call yourselves that. You need to _prove_ it.”~~

            ~~He walked along the row the first-years had assembled. “Anything you do to tarnish our name will be punished,” he whirled around to glare at Severus’s drab robes.~~

            ~~“What is this?” he demanded, and some of the upper-year Slytherins snickered. “You steal these off a corpse? State your name!”~~

            ~~Severus’s voice wavered. “S-S-Severus S-S-Snape—“~~

            ~~“S-S-S-Stutterus Snape?” the prefect mimicked, and this caused outright laughter from their audience. Severus wanted to die; for the ground to swallow him whole.~~

            ~~“You clearly need to be taught what a Slytherin means,” the prefect sneered. “Not any fool _deserves_ to be in this house.” He gestured to the others. “If any of _you_ disgrace the Slytherin name this way, be forewarned that what will happen to _you—_ ha, that is _much_ worse than what we are doing today. Since this is your first day, we’re going to take it easy on you.”~~

            ~~He shoved Severus so that he was on his knees. Severus’s heart hammered wildly in terror and humiliation.~~

            ~~“Strip,” the prefect ordered.~~

* * *

            ~~“How do you like Hogwarts so far?” Lily asked as she sat down next to Severus in Transfiguration, bright and brilliant with her red curls and open smile. It was easy enough for her to sit there, because no one else was willing to sit next to the ugly and poor half-blood.~~

            ~~Severus shrugged, head bowed, unable to speak.~~

            ~~“I love it,” Lily exclaimed, possibly figuring that Severus was just being himself. “Even though Potter and Black are there, Gryffindor is wonderful. We had an ice-breaker after we got into our dorms where we had to build a platform out of newspaper that can support our prefect’s weight and it was boys against girls; their platform got squashed in three seconds whereas ours took five!”~~

* * *

            September 2nd, 1970 was a Wednesday, which meant Charms with Gryffindor at nine in the morning. Severus was worried about the company; he was not sure if he was happy that he could be with Lily, or stressed about having to put up with the Potter and Black duo.

            Breakfast actually went off to a good start, because Aiden kept his promise: Lily was allowed to sit with Severus for a while. She wanted to make new friends with Gryffindor though, and soon left the table.

            “Our head of the house,” said the upper-year as he pushed his eggs around his plate, “he’s good in that as long as you show that you have read, he tends to give you good grades. Hey, do you remember what we started off with?”

            “Levitation charm,” said his colleague, who Severus had learned was named Sophia.

            “Oh, right. I think what tends to get most kids is the pronunciation. Latin-like gibberish, but if you mispronounce it, it doesn’t work. I don’t know why some spells are in Latin and others are in English, but you don’t really question these things when you have a ton of homework and exams to study for.”

            Severus had read the night before, like most Ravenclaws. It was hard not to when that was what everyone was doing.

            “The halls get a little twisty, so if you don’t want to be late, you might want to give yourself at least fifteen minutes to get lost and find your way back again—“

            “Axehead!”

A hand clamped down on Aidan, so hard that he jumped and yelled an “Ow!”

            “What gives?” Aiden complained, looking up at another boy, ginger prefect whose name Severus had already forgotten. He looked at the badge, squinting. _Joshua Littlepick._

            “Didn’t know you were a firsties kind of guy, Aidan. Showing the newbies the ropes?”

            “Just helping out. If you don’t like, I can always stop.”

            “No, you’re only allowed to do a worse job than me,” Josh laughed, poking him. “Hey folks. Charms first?”

            “Yeah,” said Mia, smiling.

            “Merlin, I forget all your names already. You’re…Mia? Right? Henry and Adam, but I don’t know which is which. We should make badges for the first years.”

            “Hey, take it up with Flitwick.”

            “Really, I will. You’re Snape, correct? Watch out, Aiden, I can tell this one’s a troublemaker.”

            He then winked at Severus, who was not sure what to feel.

            “Josh, quit torturing the first years. That’s _my_ job. _Your_ job was to protect them from me.”

            “Hey, if you’re going to trample on my turf, only fair if I trample on yours.”

            “Do you have any advice for how to approach Charms?” Adam asked. “Or like, any of the classes at all?”

            “Read,” said Aiden before Josh could answer. “And if you find yourself in trouble _at all_ , find one of us. We’ll help.”

            “Ravenclaws help our own,” Josh agreed, “and don’t be embarrassed if you seem slower than the others. Everyone’s good at different things and bad at others; you can’t be good at everything.”

            “We tend to be what the muggles call ‘Type A’ personalities,” Aiden went on. “I should know, because I keep getting mocked because I’m Asian. I so fit the stereotype though: study all the way, or else my parents would beat my a—er, there will not be happy times. Still, you can’t be good at everything, and even Type A personalities don’t cut it once in a while. Don’t beat yourself up if your test comes back with a fifty out of a hundred or something.”

_A 50?? No way._

Severus almost snorted as Aiden went on, “Believe it or not, it happens. Just don’t just sit on it and pretend that next time will change despite doing nothing. We’re wizards, but we’re not miracle workers.”

            “And if the students aren’t much help,” said Josh, pointing at the faculty table, “Sleeping Beauty has the inside scoop on everyone’s test questions. She’s not going to tell you the questions and answers, but she’s a huge help.”

            He was pointing at Professor Rose.

            “Her name is actually Briar Rose?” Terrace asked.

            “Funny, eh?” Josh slapped Aiden on the back. “I gotta go grab something. If you get the firsties lost, I’ma cream you.”

            Aiden made faces as Josh retreated.

            “He’s really hip,” he said to the students. “Anyway, let’s wrap this up because it’s eight-forty and I’d like you guys to head up in five minutes.”

* * *

            Charms started off awkwardly when Severus and the other Ravenclaws arrived to class and Terrace Bloom just took a seat next to his like it was nothing. Severus was not sure how to explain that he was saving the seat for Lily, and then it was too late because Lily saw and took a seat on the other side. Which was not so bad, except it was at a separate table.

            At least that separate table had not been occupied.

            “Sleep well?” Lily asked, grinning at him and not seeming to mind that he did not manage to save her a better seat.

            “Yeah,” Severus allowed himself to smile back.

            And then the rest of the Gryffindors flocked in.

            “Charms charms charmers wooo!” Black hollered, skipping to the table. Professor Flitwick was at his desk, ignoring the commotion since class had not started yet. “Oh, look, there’s _Snivellus._ Hey James! Take a look, he’s still wearing the same clothes as yesterday! What a loser.”

            Severus felt his face turn red. He wished he could go find Aiden now. Aiden would probably send these two crying.

            “Oh look,” Lily drawled, “it’s Pottypants and Dogbreath.”

            “Says the girl who hangs out with Snivellus, hahaha!” Potter mocked, but was then distracted when two other Gryffindors came in. “Hey Pete, save us a seat!”

            “It rhymed!” Black crowed. “Pete, save us a seat!”

            Sufficiently distracted, the three plus another boy Severus did not remember the name of slipped away to the back rows.

            “Did I just imagine that?” Terrace exclaimed. “They just came up and called you ‘Snivellus’?”

            Severus’s ears burned. His gut coiled with shame and apprehension; what if the name got picked up?

            “Gryffindors,” Mia rolled her eyes. “What can you expect?”

            Lily glanced over at Professor Flitwick, who was still reading something. Her eyebrows were furrowed in a frown.

            “That was so inappropriate,” Terrace scowled.

            Severus blinked, not sure what to make of what they were saying.

            “…should we tell Professor Flitwick?” asked Ami.

            Despite the suggestion, none of the Ravenclaws moved. Not like Severus could expect more from those he had just met.

            “ _I_ will,” Lily sniffed, but then Professor Flitwick looked up, calling for order.

            “Welcome to Charms,” he began, and the opportunity was over.

* * *

            The first spell was, as the upper-years foretold: the Levitation charm. Severus had been nervous at first; he had not been allowed to practice magic at home. It turned out he was being too neurotic, because he got the charm on the first try.

            “Whoaaaa…” Terrace marveled. “Can you teach me?”

            Lily got it a little after Severus did, but she did not need any help, so Severus obeyed, instructing Terrace on the details he overlooked. Mia also needed help, as did Henry, and soon all of the first-year Ravenclaws were listening to him with rapt attention while Professor McGonagall saw to the Gryffindors.

            Severus had never been the center of attention like this, except when his father wanted to beat him. The feeling was…exhilarating.

            “Seriously,” said Terrace, “you are going to be my study-buddy from now on.”

            “Of course he will be,” Mia rolled her eyes, “he’s in our house.”

            Flitwick was proud too. “Great job, Mr. Snape!” he exclaimed. “You will make a fine wizard yet!”

            Black and Potter also managed the charm quickly enough, but there was not as much interaction from them for the rest of the class when Severus’s own housemates surrounded him. He looked at Lily, who beamed at him.

            It was only when the class ended that Severus realized he was beaming too.

* * *

            Ravenclaw had Transfiguration and Herbology with the Hufflepuffs before lunch. As the third class let out, the students walked out through the doors to find Professor Rose leaning back against the wall, her legs crossed and arms folded.

            Some of the Hufflepuffs had older siblings who knew her already, so they went up to greet her personally.

            “Professor Rose! I’m Dave’s sister…”

            “…my brother told me all about you…”

            “Would you mind helping me in Charms? I still can’t get the levitation spell to work…”

            Rose’s smile was so kind that Severus caught himself trying to go to her as well.

            “Of course! We can go over it tonight if you want, since you’re the one that asked me first.”

            She was pretty, Severus acknowledged. She was like one of those Hollywood stars that his father liked to look at, except more refined and regal.

            “We should introduce ourselves to her,” said Terrace, “that way if we ever need help with schoolwork, we can go to her.”

            Unable to argue against this logic, Severus followed Terrace and Mia to wait behind the Hufflepuffs, who were monopolizing Rose.

            “We have flying after lunch, and I’m really scared because I’m afraid of heights…”

            “Well Madam Hooch will not have you take off in the air all at once. Don’t worry, she is a great instructor.”

            Severus was ready to leave, but Terrace and Mia waited patiently enough, and the other seven Ravenclaws also clustered up behind him.

            _At least the next period is lunch._

            It was Rose who broke through the Hufflepuffs, extending a hand out to the Ravenclaws with a saintly smile. “I see new faces I haven’t been introduced to. How are my bookworms?”

            One Hufflepuff giggled at this.

            “I’m Terrace Bloom,” said Terrace, reaching out to shake her hand. “It’s okay if you don’t remember my name this time, I’m also bad with names.”

            “Glad to know!” Rose laughed. “And you are?”

            “I’m Mia. Widehand.”

            “Mia Widehand,” and Rose shook her hand as well.

            Severus held his hand out, expecting her to shake it, but Rose enveloped it with both of her hands.

            “Severus Snape,” she said, “Filius told me that you did very well this morning.”

            He looked down, speechless, an urge to squirm coiling in his chest. “I mean, first day doesn’t mean anything.”

            He started to pull his hand back, but Rose held on for a moment before slowly letting go.

            “The first day can mean a lot,” she murmured, and there was a depth in her eyes, a profound regard. Severus stared, unable to look away.

            She broke the gaze first, saying hello to Henry and Adam, to Vanessa Stark and Quinn Vars, Laodamia Shafiq, and Ariadne Greengrass. Her focus on him had seemed to last for an eternity, but none of the other students seemed to find her behavior strange.

            “I shan’t keep you from your lunch,” she ushered all of them afterwards, “you are all still growing children and you need your three meals each day. Hurry along so you have time to eat before your next class!”

            She pushed gently at Severus’s back. He moved forward, unsure what to make of her.

* * *

            “Look at him, already a star. Did I impress Flitwick enough for him to talk about me when _I_ was a first year? You’re making me so jealous.”

            “Only now, Aiden?”

            “Shut up!” Aiden scowled playfully at yet another upper-year. “Go read up on Muggle Studies.”

            “Does she just hang out in the hallways all the time?” Vanessa asked over her lunch.

            “She made a point of seeing all the students last year when she didn’t have class on the second day, but she's usually in her office otherwise,” said the upper-year.

            “She teaches on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Aiden explained, chewing off a piece of garlic bread, “so today she doesn’t have class at all. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are the best times to look for her to tutor. Not saying that you will all need it, but it’s good to know she’s there.”

            Said professor was actually mingling with the Hufflepuffs, having brought her lunch to sit at the edge of their table. Whatever she was saying must have been funny, because intermittently the house would erupt into laughter.

            Severus looked over at the Gryffindors, but Lily was so surrounded by her new friends that he could not even make out her hair.

            “What about the rest of you?” Aiden asked the first years, “any issues? Questions? Remember, the person who’s supposed to be doing this is Josh and Roxanne, so make sure you bug them too.”

            The first years looked at each other. “It’s the first day, said Henry.

            “We’ll come up with issues later,” said Ariadne.

            “They’re learning so fast!” Aiden pretended to dab at his eye with his sleeve. “What do you have next?”

            “Potions,” Adam noted.

            “Oh,” Aiden scowled. “Professor Slughorn is not bad, I guess. He’s approachable.”

            “Oh come on Aiden,” Terrance prodded, “you can’t stop there.”

            “Well here’s the thing, he’s fair about who he’s willing to accept as being a promising student, but he’ll ignore you if you’re not one of the best.” The fourth-year raised his hands. “I’m as Ravenclaw as they come, but I have a life outside of potions. I’m not going to work my butt off just so he pays attention to me, so I treat Potions class with a grain of salt. That doesn’t mean if you happen to be good at potions that you shouldn’t work at it. It’s good to be a favourite.”

            “Huh,” Mia blinked, while Severus silently pondered these words.

* * *

            The next class after lunch was Potions with Slytherin.

            Severus looked at the other house, feeling conflicted. They ignored him, and it felt awkward for him to speak up to say hello.

            “Don’t mind them,” said Terrace, “Da said they’re always like that. All broody and exclusive. If you’re not a Slytherin, they won’t talk to you unless you’re assigned to the same project or something.”

            Severus felt like he failed his mother, and could not help but watch the house longingly. It did not help that the professor was the Head of Slytherin. He tried to imagine what it would be like if he were Severus’s advisor, rather than Flitwick. Slughorn was enormously fat, short, bald, and old. His clothing were embroidered with golden thread on velvet. He was a bumbling and jovial man, almost more so than Flitwick.

            The first class was an introduction, where bezoars could be found, what was the Draught of Sleeping Death, and so on. Severus had read, but so did the Slytherins, so everyone answered equally well during the class.

            “You alright?” Terrace asked when the period was over and he noticed Severus’s mournful expression.

            “Yeah,” he murmured.

            “Are you sure?” the Ravenclaw prodded. Severus was figuring out that this was a pattern for him.

            “Yeah,” he said a little too forcefully, “I’m fine. Let’s just get to our next class.”

            The next class was with Gryffindor. Terrace sat next to Severus again, and Lily sat on the other side at a separate desk. At this point, Severus was feeling comfortable with the day’s flow; the first day was going to be all introductions, and there would be no real material to learn.

            Once the period ended, everyone packed the bags. Their professor withdrew to his office as the students dispersed from the room. Terrace announced that he had to use the toilet.

            “We’ll meet out in the hall?” he asked.

            “Sure.”

            The other Ravenclaws were already leaving. Terrace headed out while Severus swung his bookbag over his shoulder. In his hurry to catch up, he did not even notice Potter and Black in his way until his leg got caught and he fell to the floor. Above him, he heard Potter and Black chortle.

            The day had gone well. He had started off as one of the smartest students who was able to learn the levitation charm and teach it to his classmates. In the span of seconds, indignation blackened his former cheer.

            Getting up, heaving with adrenaline, Severus glared at Potter, who was the closest and was also the one with his foot out.

            “Hey, don’t look at me,” Potter raised his hand with a completely disingenuous smirk. “I didn’t do anything.”

            “You shouldn’t blame others for your own clumsiness, _Snivellus,_ ” Black sneered.

            He should just walk away. Part of him knew this, because he had survived for eleven years in a household where even being able to walk away was a privilege. But Hogwarts was supposed to be his heaven, his castle on a cloud, where he would fit in for once and not be considered a freak. All at once, the years worth of suppression, of keeping his fear and anger and hatred in check for his mum, for himself, burst forth like a bomb. Heart hammering in rage, Severus dropped his bag and grabbed Potter by the lapels and tried to throw him to the ground. He was not strong enough, so he only managed to shove Potter off his chair.

            “Huh! You want to play that way, huh?” Potter grabbed him back. He was stronger, and he _did_ throw Severus to the floor. When Severus tried to get up, Potter simply shoved him back down again.

            “Come on,” Black said to Potter, “we’re going to be late. Just leave him there.”

            Severus got to his feet, but Potter and Black were already out the door, laughing with each other. _“Did you see that? Man, what a loser.”_

* * *

            ~~They punched him soundly in the face, until his eyes were black and blue. “Slimy Slytherin! This is what you deserve!”~~

            ~~The professor hurried out. “Hey! Stop this at once! Twenty points from Gryffindor for each of you!”~~

            ~~“He was the one who started it!” Black cried. “He hit me here!” and there was, indeed, a bruise on his neck, but Severus was not the one who put it there.~~

            ~~“Next time, you are not to double the wrong,” the professor glared. “Two wrongs don’t make a right. As for you, Mr. Snape, I am terribly disappointed in you. Fifty points from Slytherin, and you have detention with Mr. Filch starting next week.”~~

* * *

            “You alright?” Terrace asked when Severus joined him in the hall.

            “I’m fine. Let’s go before we’re late.”

            Terrace was not convinced; it might have to do with the tears still welling up in the other boy’s eyes, but Severus was already hurrying down the corridor, and the Ravenclaw had no choice but to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are better, I think, but Severus still came from a dysfunctional household, and that has its effects. It's easy for you or I to let things go for now, but Severus has never had a supportive listener who would comfort him. He still has a long way to go if he wants to be a normal, functional wizard.


	4. The Virtues of Ravenclaw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JK Rowling doesn't seem to know what happens when a ton of nerds get together.
> 
> I happen to. You can't get a more concentrated nerdism than Bronx High School of Science and Carnegie Mellon University.
> 
> Needless to say, craziness will ensue. Once studying is done.
> 
> Also, apologies for having the wrong dates. I did mess up the calculations in earlier chapters; for some reason I calculated that Severus attended Hogwarts in 1970. Not quite right. But Lucius was still a seventh-year when Severus first attended Hogwarts. The only real difference is that if Rose teaches Muggle Studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she would not have been able to meet Severus on the first day. May have to change those things eventually, but for now, :/

            Terrace was curious, but Severus warded off his questions for the rest of the day. Feeling irritable, he withdrew to his bunk after the day’s classes were over, instead of joining the others to study at the lounge.

            Mum still did not know that her son was not a proper Slytherin. Severus would have to write to her. He was not even sure where to begin.

            “We didn’t even do anything and I’m so tired,” Henry burst through to the room. “Hi Sev.”

            Temper snapping, Severus blurted out, “Don’t call me that!” Only Lily could call him that!

            Startled, Henry jumped. “Sorry, I didn’t know…”

            Aware that he had been unreasonable, Severus tried to save the situation. “I know. I’m just in a bad mood.”

            “Why?” Henry’s twin asked, stepping forward. “Did something happen?”

            “It’s nothing,” Severus looked away. “Sorry for snapping at you.” He twisted his hand into his shirt, and then looked down at the moth-eaten holes, the drab colors and the fact that it was too big for him.

            It was hard not to feel inferior when he so clearly was.

            “Do you want to come with us to the common room?” Adam asked. “We can hang out, take your mind off of things.”

            “No, that’s okay,” Severus shook his head, keeping his temper under control. “I want to be alone.”

            “…okay,” said the Ravenclaw. He kept his eyes averted until he heard them leave the room.

            About two hours later, Aiden came into the room.

            “Hey buddy,” he called out. His bookbag was still over his shoulder. “Heard the afternoon wasn’t as great for ya. Tell me what happened?”

            “Nothing.” Severus stared at the letter he was writing for his mom. He had a sentence that was unfinished, but he did not know how to end it.

            Aiden read the letter from over his head. It did not occur to Severus to hide it from him. After a moment, he knelt down on one knee to be level with Severus.

            “Hey,” he said gently, “I know it’s hard when your parents want you to be one thing and you wind up being another. Trust me, I’m Asian. That’s like, the story of any Asian kid.”

            He seemed to be making a reference to something he was expecting Severus to know, but the boy had absolutely no clue what the fourth-year was talking about.

            “I don’t think Slytherin is how your mum remembers it,” Aiden went on, “remember, she was here at least a couple of decades ago. Times change. For all you know, Ravenclaw might be more along the lines of what your mum would have wanted for you.”

            This was something Severus had never considered. He looked up at Aiden.

            “And for what it’s worth, we’d be really sad if you weren’t sorted into our house. Who would be able to show up those idiot Gryffindors this morning at Charms?”

            This brought a smile to Severus’s face. Even if Black and Potter had figured it out eventually, Severus was still the first one to learn the spell.

            “There we go, a smiling Severus is a good Severus,” said Aiden, punching him lightly on the arm. It hurt, and Severus winced. It was where Potter had shoved him, he remembered belatedly.

            Aiden was very observant. “You okay?”

            “Yeah,” and the lie came off his lips before he could think, “I just bumped into the wall and might have bruised it. I’m okay.”

            Aiden gave him a searching look, as if Severus had said something that alarmed him.

            “Okay,” he said at last, letting the matter go. “Want to come down with me? All the firsties are missing you. Come on,” and before Severus could protest, he already had Severus standing up.

* * *

 

            Aiden was a genius, even among Ravenclaws. He was the leader of the fourth-year study group, even though he was not prefect. For all his remarks about not being the best at potions, he seemed to be good at everything else, from defense to transfiguration to charms.

            They had set up a barrier on one side of the room so they would not disturb the other years. Severus sat with the first-years where Aiden left him, feeling awkward. Fortunately, none of his classmates made any comment about why he only just joined them; even Terrace was more absorbed in his textbook than anything else.

            He had not finished writing his mother the letter, but maybe it could wait. He could finish it tonight, after dinner, and then send one of the school owls out. That way, his father would most likely be drunk, and his mother could read the letter in peace, without reminding him of the magical world.

            “I was thinking we can practice ahead,” said Mia as she scooted to sit next to him. “Look, here’s the illumination charm. _Lumos_ and _Nox._ I heard it’s easier to try it in a darker area, but if it’s going to make our wands light up, it shouldn’t matter, right?”

            “Sure,” said Severus, taking out his wand. He got it on the first try, though Nox took a couple of attempts. None of the students had homework yet, but true to Ravenclaw form, they were already reading ahead.

            Mia and Severus went through five spells before Josh and Roxanne reminded the first years that they should head to the Great Hall for dinner.

            “Good, because I am _starving_ ,” said Mia, and the students left the couches to head downstairs.

            One thing Severus _was_ glad of was the fact that the Ravenclaw tower was one of the airest in the school. If he had been sorted into Slytherin, he would have been stuck in the dungeons, much like his old home. The riddle concept was stupid though; anyone could get in as long as they were smart enough, and the Ravenclaws were not the only smart ones at Hogwarts.

            “You know the Hufflepuffs have hobbit houses?” Josh said to Severus.

            “…what are hobbits?” Mia asked.

            “Oh dear,” said the fourth-year, “I forget that I learned that from Muggle Studies.”

            “It’s because Professor Rose came from America,” said Roxanne, “they started this hippie thing and the hippies like Lord of the Rings.”

            “But Tolkien is British!”

            “Oh. Is he the one on drugs?”

            “No, that one’s Lewis Carroll.”

            Severus looked at Terrace, nonplussed.

            “I have no clue, mate,” said the other.

            They arrived at the Great Hall. Severus searched for Lily, but she sneaked up behind him and then tackled him before he could take a seat.

            “I wanted to sit with you this time,” she said, and slid beside him like she belonged there.

            “Are you staying this time, Evans, or abandoning us for your precious Gryffs?” Mia teased.

            “Oh, I think they can do without me this _one_ time,” Lily grinned back. “So Sev, how was today?”

            “Alright.” Besides getting shoved around by Potter, but he was not going to mention that.

            Aiden arrived with his group of friends, and they all seemed to have ingested a huge dose of caffeine at some point between leaving the common room and arriving in the Great Hall.

“Higitus, Figitus, zumbabazing!”

            “Oh _Merlin_ no,” Josh exclaimed. “Aiden you son of a—“

            “I want your attention everything!” Aiden waved a rolled up piece of paper like it was a wand. “Hockety pockety wockety wack, abracabra dabra nack—“

            “Ho, are you _drunk?_ ”

            “No I really want to know if this works—“

            “You’re not even using your wand—“

            “Ho, it’s a cartoon!”

            “Higitus Figitus migitus mum, Prestidigitonium!”

            The other fourth-years were in hysterics, which was probably what Aiden was aiming for. The Slytherins were staring at him like he was a dancing bear in a tutu.

            “Hockety pockety—“

            “You have to do it with a beard—“

            Roxanne turned to the first years. “Ignore them,” she advised.

            Lily turned to Severus. “I think he’s singing from The Sword in the Stone. That’s one of my favorite movies.”

            _…Huh?_

“No, you shall not pass!” Aiden tumbled over as Josh tried to reach for his paper wand.

            “Don’t you dare quote Gandalf after Merlin—“

            Dinner materialized, and Severus and Lily both filled their plates to the sound of Aiden trying out, “What was it, Supercalifagish, uh, fragilicious…”

            “You lot are a bunch of nerds,” said Professor Rose, gently pushing Aiden to sit properly. “Then again I guess that’s expected.”

            “Help me, Professor Rose, you’re my only hope!” Aiden tried to hug her, but the teacher easily side-stepped him, only staying close enough to support him so he did not faceplant on the floor. Her face twisted.

            "I should not have told you folks that one..."

            “This is all your fault, Professor,” said Josh with a long-suffering voice. “I think you broke his brain with Muggle pop culture.”

            “Sit with us!”

            “Only if you stop singing,” the woman said.

            “Oh, that hurts! Right in here,” Aiden punched his chest.

            He did stop singing, and Rose did sit with them at the table. Severus looked up where the Headmaster and the other professors were. None of them appeared to view this as unusual, though none of them chose to dine with the students either.

            Severus, sitting with the other first-years, was too far away to hear anything she said once she talked at a normal volume. He did notice that she only ate very little, and only vegetables and carbohydrates.

            “We had flying today with the _Slytherins,_ ” Lily hummed, “No offense to your mum, but I’m glad you’re not there. Maybe when she was in Slytherin they were different, but the ones I saw were absolute _jerks_.”

            “What happened?” Terrace asked, inserting easily as if he had been Lily’s friend all along. Severus felt a little annoyed at the interruption, but Lily responded without any trace of irritation.

            “They tried to goad James Potter to fly up, higher than Madam Hooch wanted.”

            “Did he?”

            “Yeah. Gryffindor lost ten points because of that. Slytherin lost fifteen, but still, would be nice if we hadn’t lost _any_.”

            “Why did Potter listen anyway?” Severus snorted.

            “I mean, yeah, it was his fault he let himself get goaded,” Lily conceded, “but why goad him at all? I swear, Slytherins are horrid.” She bit her lip and looked at Severus anxiously. “Sorry.”

            “Your mum was a Slytherin?” Mia caught on. The attention this attracted made Severus feel uneasy.

            “Yeah, so?”

            _“Hey Jude, don’t make it bad, Take a sad song and make it better…”_

            They looked over to see Professor Rose trying to escape the fifth-years serenading her.

            “You people are so _white and nerdy_ ,” she exclaimed, seeking refuge with the first-years. “I don’t know if I corrupted them or if they were always like this.”

            Severus was startled, because that was a song he had heard on the radio shortly before coming to Hogwarts.

            Rose leaned forward on the table and looked at all of them. “So,” she remarked, “this is what you have to look forward to. I’m so sorry.”

* * *

            After dinner, Severus noticed Rose pull Aiden aside and whisper something into his ear. Somber for once, Aiden seemed to relate something to her that made her frown as well. _Don’t do anything,_ he was able to read from her lips. She said something else that was too fast to make out, before stating, _good job, alright?_

            He did not have time to ponder, because he had to write a letter to his mum, and Mum would have to know that her son was not Slytherin. He still had to finish that sentence.

            This time, no one drew him out of the bunks when he secluded himself there to write the missive. It took a while, because he was not sure how to state affairs in a way that would disappoint her less. An hour later, he finally sealed the letter and made his way down to the common room.

            He was at the doors when Aiden’s voice stopped him.

            “Severus?”

            Startled, he looked back. “…Hi Aiden.”

            “Where are you going?”

            Aware that he must have been doing something wrong, but not sure, Severus hesitated. Fortunately, Aiden was observant as always.

            “Is that the letter to your mum? Are you heading to the owlery? It’s curfew. We’re not allowed to be out of our dorms after this hour.”

            “…Oh.” Severus stepped away from the door, heart numb at the thought of what might happen if Aiden had not stopped him.

            “Are you in a hurry?”

            “Well…” he supposed he could have an owl deliver it in the morning. He opened his mouth to say so, but Aiden beat him to it.

            “Here, let me. Hey Josh! Need you to do something!”

            The prefect, who had been reclining on the couch, sat up.

            “Ho-boy, I’m your boss, not the other way around.”

            “Stuff it, Smarty-pants. Firstie needs a letter delivered.”

            “At this hour?” Josh cocked an eyebrow.

            “Less questions, more action.”

            “Ho, I’m not going up to get pooped on by owls at this time of the night. I _just_ showered.”

            “It-it’s okay,” Severus held the letter close to him. “It’s no hurry, really. Just…just a letter telling Mum how I’m doing.” _If she even reads it._ He felt bad making the upper-years go through this much just because he had not planned better.

            “Sophia has an owl,” said Aiden, “but we can’t go to their dorms. This really stinks. Otherwise I’d ask her to lend you her owl.”

            “It’s really okay,” Severus ducked his head. “One night shouldn’t hurt.”

* * *

 

            ~~“You lost fifty points already, and you lose another twenty for breaking curfew? Do you have a brain?”~~

            ~~“What can you expect? It’s his mudblood parents. Doesn’t know how to pay attention to the rules. You have to know the rules before you break them, you idiot!”~~

            ~~“I knew it as soon as I saw his poor excuses for robes.”~~

            ~~“Go to your room and _stay_ there!”~~

* * *

 

            Ravenclaw tower had the best view out of all the dormitories. From his window, Severus could see the lake and the forests that stretched beyond. The night sky was clear, the stars speckled over the black expanse. The full moon shone serenely from her post in the sky.

            In the distance, a wolf howled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first Star Wars film came out in 1977, 6 years from when this chapter should place.


	5. The First Weekend

            By the end of the week, the Gryffindors had established the Marauders; four clowns made up of Pothead, Blackhead, Lupus, and Petty-pew. These were names that Henry and Adam had come up with, and it stuck for most of the Ravenclaws, with certain variations depending on how frustrated the individual was. “Snivellus”, unfortunately, had also stuck with the Gryffindors, mostly because many had thought that was Severus’s actual name. The prefect, Josh, had found this incredibly annoying and managed to take off ten points once when he caught them using it.

            Professor Rose was around, and seemed to be everywhere in the afternoons and evening, but she never approached the first-year Ravenclaws again. Aiden would occasionally check on Severus, but as Severus grew more comfortable, the upper-year began to focus on his own affairs.

            It was good. Despite the rough start, Severus was hopeful again. Though Terrace and Mia were not as close to him as Lily, at least they were always there. Josh was also usually around to stand up for Severus when Aiden could not.

            And classes were going well, for all of Severus’s previous fears. He showed promise in Potions after successfully brewing his first potion, and Slughorn seemed to take a keen interest in him. Severus also always made sure to be with his fellow Ravenclaws between classes, so Potter and Black were not able to make a move on him again. Before he knew it, it was Friday night, and they were looking ahead at their first weekend.

            “Kresten said that Professor Rose would sometimes take the first and second-years to a picnic when the weather is warm, but she said no this time.” Lily wrinkled her nose. “You know what’s strange? I feel like Professor Rose doesn’t like me.”

            The thought was preposterous. Professor Rose seemed as nice as everyone said she was, which was rare in Severus’ experience. “Why do you say that?”

            “She’s always trying to avoid me,” said Lily. “You know how she shook everyone’s hand? She didn’t shake mine. At first I thought it was because she was adjusting her robes, but she always sits on the other side of the table, and she never really looks at me.”

            “You might be overthinking it,” he said, puzzled. “I mean, you’re a first-year. She hardly knows you. Why would she be avoiding you?”

            “Maybe,” Lily frowned.

            “And if she should avoid anyone, she should be avoiding Blackhead,” said Severus. He had it on good authority that she did not; he had seen her talk to him with that same kind smile as with everyone else. Potter, on the other hand, she did seem to avoid. The imbecile was too thick to notice, but Severus did. It was all very strange. “Still, it’s only the first week.”

            “True.”

            He spent much of the evening with Lily, but on Saturday, Terrace and Mia wanted to peruse through the Transfiguration textbook, and gave him an odd look when he voiced an inclination towards hanging out with Lily again.

            “School first,” Mia said in mild reprimand. “Besides, I got some Transfiguration books from the upper-years that I would like to try out—they have some interesting spells.”

            “Maybe Lily can join us,” said Severus.

            He could tell Mia and Terrace were not thrilled about this, but neither did they object. Unfortunately, Lily had other plans.

            “I promised I would help Tess and Beverly,” she said apologetically, “we have a bunch of assignments that are due on Monday. Maybe tomorrow?”

            It was either that or study with the Gryffindors, and Severus did not want to meet any more of them. They parted ways and he ended up with Mia and Terrace in the common room, overlooking the lake.

            “Animagus,” Mia showed Severus, “but this is in the third-year curriculum. Can you imagine, turning into any animal you want? I’d like that.”

            “That’s not what it says,” Terrace corrected, “you just transform into _one_ animal.”

            “It’s like Professor McGonagall’s cat form,” Mia went on, “and if it really is just one animal, I hope I’m a bird.”

            “It’s really hard though,” Terrace warned, “things can go horribly wrong. Does it show you how to do it?”

            “Not in this book,” Severus noted, “perhaps there’s another book somewhere in the library?”

            “Maybe we can ask Professor McGonagall. Doesn’t hurt to ask, right?”

* * *

            “You Ravenclaws are always like this,” the Deputy Headmistress muttered, though she seemed amused. “Only started learning levitation and illumination charms, you can’t even change a beetle into a button, and you’re asking me if you can learn this highly advanced branch of transformation. Filius, I swear your students get worse every year.”

            Flitwick just chuckled, sipping his cup and diving into his lunch.

            “If you are still interested by the time you are third-years,” McGonagall said to them, “I will direct you to the books, and I will supervise you as you practice. It is a long arduous process that can take years, so if you choose to start, you will see it to the end. I make a habit of _not_ wasting my time.”

            “Yes ma’am.”

            Singing songs during meals did not happen again after that first dinner since the Welcoming Feast, but it was someone’s birthday, so when the trio turned to head back to their lunch, the sixth years were already serenading their subject.

            The Slytherins were either ignoring the scene or eyeing it with distaste. Severus felt uneasy; he never received a response from Mum, though he was not really sure what to expect. Still, after personally interacting with the Ravenclaws and seeing just how kind they were, it bothered him that his original house of choice did not approve. It meant that they would not approve of _him._

            It meant that _Mum_ would not approve of him.

            “Hey Firsties! Come over here, we’ve got cake,” someone called.

            Two of the sixth-years apparently baked the thing in a cauldron. It was delicious but had a funny texture and looked a little like someone had already eaten it before regurgitating it on a plate. Mum never told Severus that Ravenclaws were this crazy; Severus had always assumed that Ravenclaws were boring even if they were booksmart. _Where did they get the time to do all of this?_

            “Merlin,” Rose said from behind him, “you kids would probably have gone to Imperial College or MIT if you were muggle.”

            “Professor, have some cake!” one of the sixth years offered.

            “No thanks, I’d like to stay alive and healthy.”

            “Oh come on, Madam Pomfrey would save you if anything happens.”

            “That’s not very encouraging.”

            “Is it encouraging if I’m eating it?”

            “…can I not answer that?” Joking aside, she leaned over and pointed out, “next time you kids do something like this, either make enough to poison all of Hogwarts or keep it in your common rooms.” She pointed around at the other houses who were doing their best to ignore the scene. “Common courtesy.”

            She left afterwards, though her words put a damper on the whole thing, especially the birthday person in question.

            “It was our fault,” the sixth-years said easily enough to her. “She has a point.”

            They wrapped up the mini-party to prepare to head out to Hogsmeade for the afternoon. Severus and the other first years headed to the library to study. They finished the rest of their homework that afternoon, after which Terrace suggested they go explore.

            “We’re not doing anything else,” the boy pointed out, “so why not? I keep hearing about this kitchen with a pear that needs to be tickled. We can go look.”

            Mia was a lot more cautious. “What if we get lost?”

            “It’s a _school_ ,” Terrace pointed out. “Even if it’s large, it’s not like they’re hiding anything dangerous in the basements. And it’s before curfew, so it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong. We won’t break past any locked doors or something. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

            They managed to recruit Henry and Adam, though the rest of the first-years did not want to head out, and as a group, they went down the spiral staircase and to the straight hall. Severus could not stop smiling; he had never felt like he was part of something before, and now he was in a party of five, going on an adventure to explore the secrets of the castle.

            They found the kitchens, which was near the Hufflepuff basement. Severus thought there would be some art to tickling the pear since it was two-dimensional, but it really was as straightforward as it sounded. It was actually really cute, and he was sorry to see it turn into a doorknob.

            “There’s another Great Hall here!” Mia exclaimed. “Smaller though. But the tables!” She ran over to the Ravenclaw bench and sat.

            Severus followed. “Is there food here?”

            There was a pop beside him, one that made him startle and fall off the seat. “Young masters come to visit house-elves! Name’s Minny! Young master’s must be hungry! Minny make at once!”

            Severus blinked. He had heard of house-elves, but he had never seen one. “Minny?” he asked, a little stunned.

            “Yes! Minny! Young master knows Minny’s name!”

            “Go get us something to eat!” Mia, who was more comfortable around house-elves, exclaimed.

            “Yes young mistress, Minny go at once!” and the house-elf disappeared with another pop.

            “What was that?” Adam asked, staring at his brother.

            “That was a house-elf,” Terrace piped in before Severus could, “they are the ones who cook and clean at Hogwarts.”

            “Really?”

            “Mum was wondering about the laundry,” Henry noted.

            They ran and sat at the other tables, something that they would not have done in the real Great Hall. After examining all the nooks and crannies, the food arrived on the Ravenclaw table, enough to feed ten sixteen-year-olds, let alone eleven.

            “Does Aiden know about this?” Severus asked.

            “Probably not,” said Terrace. “Let’s keep it a secret between us five.”

            “But I want Lily to know,” Severus frowned.

            Terrace scowled. “Why? She’s a Gryffindor. If you tell her, she’ll tell all her other Gryffindor friends, and this place will get crowded.”

            “I’ll make her promise not to tell!” Severus insisted. “I want her to know about this place! She’s my best friend!”

            Terrace, annoyed that his plan was being foiled, bit back, “More like she’s a crush. Are you sure you shouldn’t have been sorted into Gryffindor?”

            “I don’t see a reason why we can’t tell her,” Mia spoke up, “if they do any exploring like we have, she’d find out about this eventually.”

            “Well maybe we can look up something to make sure _we’re_ the only ones who know.”

            “Why do you want this place to be a secret so much?” Henry asked.

            Terrace shrugged. “Why not? It would be nice to have a place all to ourselves.”

            “We already have the common room.”

            “Yeah, but the common room’s open to _anyone_ who is Ravenclaw. I’m talking about the five of us.”

            “That’s true…” Mia and the twins glanced at each other, warming up to the idea.

            “I’m not doing anything that leaves Lily out,” Severus glared. “And I’m not doing anything that leaves Aiden out either.”

            “Ugh,” Terrace groaned in irritation, “whatever, mate. If you want to do your own thing, you’re free to leave.”

           “ _Fine_.” Severus stood.

            “Wait, Sev, don’t you—“

            “Don’t call me that!” Severus snapped. How dare she when they were all telling him to leave Lily out? “How many times do I have to tell people not to call me that? The name’s _Severus_! Are you idiots capable of pronouncing it?!”

            The others looked at him like he had lost his mind.

            “Well, Lily called you that,” Mia snapped back, “so I thought I could too!”

            “You’re not Lily!” Severus growled. “You can’t do everything she can do!”

            “You know what,” Mia raised her hands in mocking surrender, as angry as Severus. “Fine. Fine fine fine. You go and hang out with Lily if you like her so much. Go on!”

            Fuming, Severus left.

* * *

            Josh found him on his bed, hugging his knees and glaring out the window. The others had stayed in the Common Room, but Severus did not want to join them.

            “Knew we were missing a firstie,” he chuckled.

            “Stop calling me a firstie!” Everything sounded like mockery now.

            “Whoa…hey, okay, sure. What do you want me to call you?”

            “My _name_ , like a normal person.”

            “Don’t get your knickers in a twist.” Josh was a lot more awkward than Aiden would have been. Severus wished Aiden were the one to come. Maybe Aiden forgot about him, or got tired of him. Everyone did, except Lily. The thought made him want to cry, and his eyes even stung like mad, but he held it from streaming down his cheeks like a _baby_.

            “Go away!” he spat. “I don’t want to talk to anyone.”

            “Sev—“

            “Go away!” he yelled again, and this time grabbed his pillow and _threw_ it. It missed, but Josh was startled.

            “Okay, hey, uh, _way_ above my level of training. I’ll just leave you alone, okay?”

            Severus ignored him, staring out the window again. This time one tear did streak down, but at least it was on the side facing the window and not the one facing Josh. The sun had set, but the rays still painted the sky in purples and indigos.

            He did not hear Josh leave, though the room became very quiet. After checking to make sure he was alone, he wiped at is face and sniffled as fast as he could. If some other idiot decided to barge in, he did not want to be caught crying like an infant.

            And it was a good thing he did, because after a long while, someone did step into the room. He did not speak this time, because it might be one of the first years, and he could not very well tell _them_ to go away when their stuff was here.

            But the shadow that fell over him was tall. He looked up, wondering if it was Aiden, but it turned out to be Professor Rose.

            “Professor!” he blinked, straightening. He thought to stand up, but she was standing too close to the bed. _Don’t these people knock?_ But he realized he never heard the door close, whether it was when he first came here or when Josh left. _I should have closed the dorm door._

            “Hello, sweetheart,” she reached to the side to pull his assigned chair over. “Why aren’t you with your friends?”

            Instead of answering, Severus demanded, “What are you doing here?”

            She sat down, as if making herself at home. Severus blushed as he realized that she was seeing the state of the dorm, the messiness and occasional dirtiness. _Is she even supposed to enter our dorms like this?_

            “Josh told me you were upset,” Rose explained, taking out her wand. “ _Accio_ pillow.”

            The pillow came to her hands, and she began patting any dust off.

            “Was it your friends?” she asked.

            “They’re not my friends.” Severus turned to the window. Even if they were, they certainly would not be now.

            “That’s not fair to say. They might not know you as well as Lily Evans, but there’s no reason not to give them a chance.”

            “I did. I don’t like them.”

            “You don’t like them, or are you afraid they don’t like you anymore?”

            Severus was silent.

            “Tell me what happened.”

            Rose stopped talking and just waited.

            He should have kept silent. He hardly knew Rose, and the fact that she was so popular was a bit of a turn-off. The way she said the question, and the way she just sat there afterwards, silent, waiting for him to break it, compelled him to speak.

            “We…Terrace, Mia, and the twins and I…we found this…place.” He wanted to tell Lily and possibly Aiden, but he did not want to tell Rose. “It was a nice place, in the castle. Terrace wanted to keep it secret. I wanted to share it with Lily. They said I couldn’t. That’s all.”

            “I see.” Rose was quiet for a moment. “There’s nothing wrong with having a different group of friends, Mr. Snape. Lily does not have to be in all of your circles.”

            “But I _want_ her to be.” Severus’s temper was growing again.

            “I know. And I’m sure she appreciates it. However, she has other circles of friends also. Ones she does not include you in, for many reasons that are nothing personal. You’re a boy, she’s a girl. You’re a Ravenclaw, she’s a Gryffindor. You like potions, she likes charms.”

            Severus had no idea if he liked potions, just that he was not bad at it.

            “I prefer Lily over any other dimwit in this place.”

            “I know.” She really did seem to understand. “But you cannot prefer her all the time. Not when she can’t. She’s in a different house.”

            Severus swallowed the demand for Rose to leave as well. He did not think he could do that to a professor.

            “Lily would want you to have other friends,” Rose told him. “She cannot care for you all by herself. She would want others who can love you when she cannot.”

            “I don’t _have_ anyone else.” It was something he never admitted to others before, not even Lily. It surprised him when he heard himself.

            “You can get more. You’re young.”

            Severus lowered his eyes. “It’s too late.”

            “No it isn’t. Just say you’re sorry, and explain why you acted the way you did. Tell them about how Lily was your friend from before Hogwarts. How you’ve never hidden anything from her before. Trust me, you’re not the only student here who was sorted into a different house from his friend. We have siblings who are in different houses. They’d understand.”

            The idea of saying sorry made him want to squirm. “I don’t want to.”

            “If Lily were upset at you, would you do this?”

            “Of course!” he exclaimed, without hesitation.

            Rose leaned forward. “Trust me,” she said to him, “she would be very upset if she learns that you alienated your friends just for her. Give it a try.”

* * *

            Apologies were hard to begin. After the first words, Severus lowered his eyes, feeling out of place and alone. He was not sure what compelled him to listen to Rose, who had left the tower now, so she would not even know if he did it or not.

            “Why were you so upset?” Mia asked, pressing her hands on the textbook on her table.

            _Just tell him why Lily was so important._ “She is the only person who cares about me.”

            …So that had _not_ been what he intended to say, even if it was the truest thing he had ever said.

            Terrace scowled. “ _We_ care about you too!”

            The vehemence startled him. “…You do?”

            “Yeah, you idiot!” Terrace rolled his eyes. “You’re our friend. Of _course_ we care about you. Hufflepuffs aren’t the only ones who are loyal!”

            Stunned, Severus could only open and close his mouth like a gaping fish.

            “Even if you _were_ a jerk.”

            “…Sorry…” this one came out without conscious thought.

            “It’s okay,” Henry patted the seat next to him. “It was stupid anyway. We were looking for a way to hide the kitchens, but we haven’t had any luck. The other houses would probably find that place anyway. We should look for a place where _no_ one else would go.”

            “Like in the tower,” his brother nodded.

            “Or maybe we can make our own! Da once built us a treehouse, and no one went there but us.”

            “That’s going to be a lot of work,” Mia remarked.

            “So? We have a whole seven years!” Henry patted the seat again when Severus did not move. “Come on! You have to help us look!” and he slid a book over while pulling Severus down. “This one’s yours. Holler if you find anything.”

            And just like that, Severus had friends again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Severus has issues. It's hard on his classmates too; they don't all understand what's going on. He just looks like a maniac sometimes. Someone tell me what boarding school policies are about teachers visiting dorms; it seems like it shouldn't be allowed, but for me it's a hard concept to nail down because 11-year-olds still seems young enough to require some adult supervision at times. Any insights before I write the next chapter? Thanks a lot!


	6. Shadows at the Borders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long hiatus! I've been swamped with my day-job. Aghhh. But here it is! More to come soon!

_Dear Severus,_

_I am glad you are settling in well. Ravenclaw may not be as respectable as Slytherin, but it is not the most disappointing house you could have been sorted into. You will never achieve great things as a Ravenclaw, but perhaps mediocrity is the best we could have hoped for you. So long as you do not bring outright shame to the Princes, that is all I shall expect._

* * *

 

Things settled comfortably after the brief tiff about the kitchens. Severus basked in the support of new friends. He still loved spending time with Lily more, but her absence was not so painful when he had so many people distracting him. There was always a seat for him at the Great Hall, and someone was always available to study with in the library, or play Exploding Snaps with in the Common Room.

Given his relative popularity among his own house, there were fewer opportunities for the Gryffindor quartet to accost him. To his annoyance, as the weeks progressed it became clear that even though they were gits, at least three of the four were actually quite talented in magic. Potter and Black were both quick studies in transfiguration, while Lupin was decent at charms. Though Severus would ultimately catch up to them, it irked him that he was always slower, and his tests were always just shy of theirs. His only consolation was that Lily did better in all courses than any of them, and that felt like its own form of victory, because Severus had been the one to teach Lily the basics before they started Hogwarts.

Halloween approached. This year, it fell on a Sunday. There were many exams the Friday before, which meant on the weekend before, all of the Ravenclaws were busy studying. They convened in the library because the Common Room was too smelly; one of the upper years spilled a potion with an especially repugnant odor. Shortly after arriving, however, Severus realized he had forgotten one of his notebooks.

On his way to the tower, he spotted Professor Rose and Professor Slughorn. He would have gone right past them without concern, but Rose's words had him pinning himself against the wall, out of sight.

"What I do is none of your business," she said in tones that Severus had never heard from her before. It was cool, almost disinterested, yet vaguely threatening. "I don't monitor how you manage the students under your care."

"Perhaps not, but I'm sure the Headmaster would be _very_ interested. Terms of the job, actually."

Slughorn…honestly sounded like his usual self. Charismatic, superficially friendly, but with a darker undertone Severus recognized from when his father tried to look harmless. He always treated Severus well and showered him with praise for his meticulous potions technique, but there was always something about the man that was unsettling.

"Actually, no. My activities are of no concern to him. What I do outside of Hogwarts stays outside of Hogwarts. I can't say the same for you, though." Her voice became icy. "I know you've been watching certain students with…interest, shall we say. Future prospects. It's what you Slytherins do that's always so baffling to me. Always calculating, calculating, planning, manipulating, so certain"—she was circling Slughorn, Severus realized—"that your tiny little brains can account for _every possibility._ Any bit of mischief. How can things _possibly_ go wrong, when you've invested so much in your plots that you have no escape route left?"

She swept away from him, toward where Severus was hiding.

"You better focus on yourself rather than others, Horace. We mortals can only account for so much."

She turned around the corner before Severus could react, and in one smooth movement— _She knew I was here!—_ she collected Severus into one arm and urged him alongside. Her pace was fast, and Severus nearly had to run to keep up. Her footsteps were silent, however, which he only noticed when he tripped and fell into her.

"Oh hi Mr. Snape!" She exclaimed, pulling him upright. "So sorry I ran into you like that! I wasn't looking. Are you alright?"

Dumbfounded, Severus took a couple of seconds before realizing what she was doing. _She's covering for me._

"Oh. Y-yes. I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"That's fine. It was my fault. Are you sure you're alright?"

Her voice was almost jovial, but her face was serious. She pressed a finger to her lips in a silent command. As she lowered her hand, Severus saw Professor Slughorn step into the corridor. He had no idea how to show her that he understood.

"Well, I shan't keep you. You have exams this week, correct?"

Severus nodded. "Yes, Professor."

"Well, happy studying. I'm sure you'll do amazingly. Good luck!"

"Thank you."

She walked past without another look at him. Severus glanced after her.

"Well!" said Professor Slughorn, approaching him with an amiable smile, "she seems like she's in a bit of a hurry. Are you alright, lad?"

"Yes, sir." Severus managed not to fidget. "I…need to get my textbook."

"Yes, of course." Slughorn stepped aside.

"See you, Professor," Severus said politely.

"Good day."

* * *

 

Severus wanted to share what just happened with his fellow Ravenclaws, but he was not sure whether Professor Rose's instruction had been for the moment, or for…forever. The situation distracted him enough that he could not focus on revising.

He did not understand what he heard, exactly. Professor Rose was accusing the Head of Slytherin of _something_ , but what exactly was she talking about? She had not gone into detail. Yet whatever it was, it sounded sinister. Threatening, at least to Slughorn. Who, in turn, seemed to have been threatening Rose, but Rose did not appear to be very bothered by him. If she had, she would have worried about how much Severus had heard, and would have questioned him right then and there instead of letting him run off. Or maybe she was more clever that Severus had credited her, and was actually counting on Severus to keep quiet until she did accost him again.

Should he forget about the encounter?

Should he approach Professor Rose and explain that he had no idea what was going on?

Should he tell someone?

The weekend passed with no decision. That night, he slept poorly, but everything seemed better during the day. He felt like he could handle any turn, whatever happened. After all, it was not like he _meant_ to eavesdrop, and since he did not understand what was said, he could not be held accountable, right?

When Monday came and went without either professor acknowledging the incident; Slughorn had no reason to, Severus had to acquiesce, and Rose spent mealtimes with the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors in turns; Severus reasoned that whatever he saw was of no importance to him.

There were other things occupying everyone's minds, from who was dating whom to whispers of _something_ happening outside the great castle, which was obscure enough that no one was actually worried, but yet carried enough threat to inspire a twist of uneasiness.

"Fourth murder in a month," said Terrace, showing Severus the article. "Serial killer?"

Muggleborn witch, Italian and Irish, about thirty-two years of age and worked as an herbologist. A Hogwarts alumna, specifically a Ravenclaw, mother of one three-year-old toddler that had been with the grandparents at the time of murder. She had been found at her office in the greenhouse she worked in. Killing curse. No signs of forced entry or struggle.

"Unsettling," Severus assessed.

"They were all muggleborn," Terrace murmured. "All with the killing curse. Some dark wizard or witch is out there."

"Or wizards," Mia pointed out.

"Scary," Adam whispered.

The aurors were out of their depth, Severus knew. Though they assured in their press conferences that the perpetrator would be caught, there was no information about just whom that perpetrator might be.

"My mum's a muggleborn," Mia said in a small voice.

"I'm sure they'll figure something out," Severus assured her. "The Aurors have got to be good for _something_."

"I hope so." Mia worried her lip, and Terrace gave her a brief hug.

Ami was silent, as always, though she gave Mia a sympathetic look.

A puff of pink dust exploded from the Slytherin table. Everyone turned as the students there yelled, some falling out of the bench. At the Gryffindor table, Potter and his gang guffawed.

"I bet ten sickles they did it," Adam muttered.

"I can't believe they are so careless. They could be expelled for this sort of thing," Terrace sniffed.

The Marauders had gotten away with worse than simply planting a pink dust bomb at the Slytherin table. Severus had no doubt that things would only escalate, as the four morons learn to push the boundaries. McGonagall eyed them reproachfully, but did not leave her seat; she had no concrete proof that it was them, and could not give them a public reprimand. Slughorn had gone to his house to survey the damage.

Rose, curiously, was not in the hall at all.

"Gryffindors are such show-offs," Henry rolled his eyes. "They don't even know how completely _annoying_ they are."

"As long as they don't attempt any mischief with _us_ ," his brother pointed out.

* * *

 

"If we add the foxglove root after this, it's going to neutralize the hippogriff pellet completely. We have to add the root _now_ if we're going to add it at all."

Lily looked at the instructions again. "But…I don't understand. Shouldn't it cause release of a lot of heat?"

Something hit Severus on the back of the head. He whirled around, reaching up to feel for it, but felt nothing other than his own greasy hair. Black snickered and turned around to Potter, who was stirring the cauldron behind him.

Frustrated, but feeling helpless, especially with Slughorn wandering down the aisle at that moment, Severus turned back around. He still felt around his hair compulsively, looking down at the ground, but it seemed like it was just a telekinetic slap on the head. Childish, but ultimately harmless. Just something Black and Potter would be amused by.

The rest of the class was engrossed in their own cauldrons. Ami was paired with Black, though she was quiet enough that there was no stopping Black from doing whatever he wanted. Henry frowned reproachfully at Potter, but he had been distracted and did not see what just happened. A puff of smoke spewed from Terrace's cauldron; he had been paired up with Pettigrew. From previous accounts, the mousy boy was a particularly lousy student to work with. Severus winced and tossed Terrace a sympathetic glance. There went forty minutes worth of effort.

"I still don't get it," Lily declared.

"It won't because of the blackweb," Severus pointed. "That's what's buffering."

"Oh!" She exclaimed, and then added the foxglove root without hesitation. as Severus predicted, it melded into the mixture nicely.

"Are you two alright?" Slughorn asked, looking on at Pettigrew and Terrace. "No one's hurt? Well, I suppose we'll have to start over!"

Terrace looked miserably at Severus. Severus could only look helplessly back. He dreaded the day when he would be paired up with Pettigrew, though Pettigrew was still better than either Potter or Black.

He focused back on his own potion. Lily was already stirring, and Severus reached for the bezoar to be ready to add them in. He scratched at his scalp absentmindedly; it was starting to itch a little.

The bezoar was added. Behind him, he heard Black and Potter snicker again.

 _Whatever._ They were idiots. Severus was _not_ going to pay attention to them.

"Last three steps, alright," Lily nodded. "Pour the eel extract in drop by drop. Mix in between drops."

Severus took charge of pouring, while Lily grabbed the ladle. The two found the perfect rhythm, and Severus looked at Lily to smile at her. She focused on stirring, but smiled at him when she finished the third drop.

"I'm really glad you're my partner for this," she whispered.

"I wish we could be partners for all of it," Severus whispered back.

"Me too."

He reached for his head to scratch it again. This time, he _felt_ a tuft of hair come out with his fingers.

The lock, shiny and black, stuck to his hand as he held it in front of him. Black and Potter burst out laughing.

"Sev?" Lily exclaimed softly.

Against his better judgment, Severus tested his hair again. Another lock came out, painlessly. His stomach curdled.

"What's going on?" Slughorn exclaimed, stepping over. "Mr. Snape?"

"His hair's falling out," Blackhead pointed.

Severus turned his head. This time, he felt all of his hair shift on his scalp. They tumbled onto the collar of his robes.

Black doubled over.

" _HAHAHAHAHAHA!_ He looks like an ugly house elf! HAHAHA!"

"Baldie!" Potter was wiping tears from his eyes. "Snivellus has no hair!"

Severus remembered how the upper-year Ravenclaws had laughed jokes off, but his attempt to smile fell flat as tears stung his eyes. It was no help when he saw the other Gryffindors snickering to themselves, with the exception of Lily, who was eyeing him with concern.

Slughorn pressed a hand on Severus' shoulder. "I think we should get you to Madam Pomfrey. Off you go."

"Yeah _Baldie,_ go to Madam Pomfrey."

"You two," Slughorn pointed at Black and Potter, "get back to work. Miss Evans, it looks like you two are almost done with your potion. I'm sure you can take care of it while he's away?"

"Um, yes sir," Lily looked at him.

 _Oh Merlin._ She was looking at him and he had _no hair._ He must look…Severus could cry right there.

"Off you go now," Slughorn gave Severus a slight push.

Heading out to the hallways by himself was very daunting. There were no students, at least, and Severus made his way quickly toward the healing wing, hoping he would not run into anyone, or that they would not recognize him. The journey seemed long. He passed by Nearly Headless Nick, who ignored him, but then came upon Peeves right before he could duck into the corridor leading to the hospital wing.

"Hoohoohoo!" the poltergeist exclaimed. "Baldie! Baldie! Baldilocks! Hahahaha!" From his back, he produced a creamy pie. Stunned, Severus did not manage to dodge in time, and the pie hit him straight in the face, with enough force to send him sprawling on his back.

Stricken, Severus' fingers trembled as he moved the pie from his face, trying to blink away the cream. Almost as soon as his vision cleared, another pie slammed into his face, knocking his bare skull to the ground. Peeves cackled above him, circling in the air and rolling in laughter. As Severus managed to get the second pie off his face, the ghost suddenly loomed in front of him, and then blew a sloppy raspberry.

Something suddenly heaved Peeves off him. Severus saw a swirl of a cloak as Peeves was spun around and _pinned_ to the wall. Not the Bloody Baron, but a _living person._ Platinum blonde hair.

Professor Rose was _pinning Peeves to a wall._ With her _arm_ to his _neck._

Peeves stuttered, not quite choking, but clearly caught off-guard and off-balance.

Rose's voice was chilling.

"What did I say to you?" she demanded.

Peeves made an odd wheezing noise, and then stuttered. "B—"

"What. Did. I. Say to you?"

Recovering his voice, Peeves stammered, "I-I-I-I-I—"

"You know what I am. I made that very clear."

The poltergeist nodded. Severus watched, astounded.

"Should I make things clearer for you?"

"N-n-n-n-n-n—"

Rose released Peeves with a thrust of warning. Peeves scrambled—or as good as scrambled as he floated away, looking flustered and panicked.

Rose had been out of the castle, Severus managed to deduce. She was wearing a cloak that was fitting for the autumn chill, and in an arm she carried a small purse. She knelt down on the floor to recover a hat; it had fallen off when she was…subduing Peeves.

"Are you alright?" she blinked at him as she took her wand out. "What happened to your hair?"

Severus felt his face heat up all at once and wished the floor could just swallow him.

With a quiet spell, the witch cleared away remnants of the pie. She extended a hand to help him up. He took it, keeping his eyes lowered.

"We can reverse it," she said. "I think I know this spell. Jinx. _Epilatio pilatari._ " She demonstrated the wand movement. "The counter-jinx is easier." Tapping on Severus's bare scalp, she murmured, " _Repilatio."_

His scalp tingled. By the time Severus reached up to feel, his hair had already grown back. Shorter than before, but of respectable length. Rose reached out to smooth her fingers in his locks.

"You have good hair," she observed. "I didn't know this is how it looked."

Severus stared at her waistline, unable to lift his head. He knew he should thank her, but the words stuck in his throat. His heart was pounding, skipping beats in his ribcage, and his stomach felt all tied in knots.

She seemed to take him in for a moment before resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Come with me," she said quietly.

* * *

 

Rose's office was elegant, but bare of any items that were personal to her. There were no photographs of her family, though there were a few of herself with some former seventh-year students. There was a new LP player, which Severus knew from accounts that often played songs quietly when Rose was not busy, and a cassette deck. Two wide chairs, well cushioned, faced across the desk from Rose's own chair. The desk itself was actually quite clear; there were four stacks of papers that looked like essays, and another stack of textbooks, but a good patch of wood could be seen. Rose had a stand for a bunch of fountain pens and two quill pens with feathers that must have come from some kind of eagle-like creature.

She bade Severus have a seat and knocked on the fireplace with her wand. Instantly, a tray of tea materialized on the desk. Two cups and a teapot, steaming, some milk and a bowl of sugar cubes.

"What class were you coming from?" Rose asked, as she poured tea out for Severus and then herself.

Severus hunched low. "Potions."

"Ah." Rose poured a little bit of milk into Severus's tea. "No wonder. It's a class they're jealous of you for." She added three lumps of sugar and handed the cup to Severus. He sipped without realizing it, but the flavor woke him. Just as he always liked his tea.

"I don't know if people have approached you about this. I hope not. This is not your fault at all," Rose leaned back with her own cup—plain, Severus noted. "It's not as much because you're in the wrong and they're in the right. Definitely not. It's more because there's no hope for them to change. They have no motivation to change. They lack empathy." She eyed him then. "You, on the other hand, are almost overly-sensitive to others. It's why you would have made a good Slytherin."

Severus lowered his eyes. _Mediocrity is the best I can hope for._

"They see a boy in old clothes that are breaking apart. Kind of awkward, skinny, and it fills them with dread. Unease. Fear makes us do a lot of strange, horrid things. They sense you've had a harder life than them. They don't understand why. It makes them feel bad because some part of them realizes that they could easily have been in your situation. Why aren't they?"

Severus looked up at her.

"So they tell themselves that you must have deserved it. It's what sets you apart. You must have had a hard life for reason: this must be a punishment of some sort." She leaned forward. "Severus, this is not true. Do you hear me?"

Severus cradled the cup in his hands. It felt warm, just shy of being too hot. He stared down at the opaque liquid, still steaming.

_You don't know that. You don't know me. You haven't seen me when I'm at home. How Mummy never pays attention to me. How I hide from my Da. He said everything was good until I showed up. Mummy says I'm ugly, and I need to learn to stop annoying people, but I don't know how. No one at Hogwarts knows the real me. And since I'm **not** in Slytherin, I don't know. They're supposed to become great, and I wanted so badly to become great one day._

Rose had moved over to his side of the desk by the time he roused from his thoughts, and sat down in the chair next to him. She smoothed her hand over his hair.

"You produce a lot of oil," she noted, rubbing her fingers.

Severus flushed. "Sorry…" _She must be so disgusted._

"Not your fault." Rose looked thoughtful. "I'd always wondered. And you're always pale. I worried that there's something…I wonder if we can treat this."

He blinked. _What does she mean?_

"How about we go to the Hospital Wing?" Rose held out a hand to him again. "You were probably on your way there before I kidnapped you."

Severus smiled, though he had no idea why. He took her hand.

* * *

 

Going through the halls reminded Severus of what Rose had done, and how _insane_ that was.

"How were you able to touch Peeves?" he asked, hand still in Rose's.

"Hm? Oh. Quite simple. I'm a little more than your average witch."

That was obvious even before. Rose was a _powerful_ witch. She was fantastic at Charms, they said. "Yeah, but _how?_ "

She looked down at him with a smile. "Maybe someday I'll tell you. It's a secret, so you'll have to wait."

Severus squinted at her. "You knew how I like my tea."

"Lucky guess."

Severus scowled at her, aware that she was aware that he was aware she was lying. "Another secret?"

"Mmhmm."

"…What other powers do you have?"

"Oh, I can cast spells. Magic."

"But not like normal witches."

She smiled again at him. When he scowled again, feeling genuinely irritated, she squeezed his hand.

"I'm not trying to belittle you, Severus. It's just…" she paused, "for my protection, you see. There are dark times ahead. The fewer people who know about what I can do, the safer I'd be, and the safer the people close to me."

Severus was still unhappy, but he could understand. "…Alright."

"But I promise, one day it'll be clear to you." She pulled his hand so that she could hold it with both of her own, in consolation. "I know you'd _hate_ it when I say this—I certainly would—but you're still young. A lot of responsibilities aren't yours to shoulder yet. You have enough burdens already, for one so young."

Severus ducked his head, feeling shy all of the sudden.

The hospital wing loomed when he thought of another question.

"What were you doing outside the castle?"

"I was running errands…logistics…boring stuff. It's quite tedious." She let go of his hand to guide him by the shoulders as she pressed the door opened. "Poppy?"

* * *

 

"A lot of toxic buildup in his blood," Madam Pomfrey noted as she wrote the same on her chart. Rose sat next to Severus, a silent support. Severus looked down at his knees and wondered what everything meant. The day had gone from fantastic to poor to just plain confusing. "It was probably building for years. Stress-related, mainly. Causes anemia and all sorts of stress-related magic to accumulate, clogging up the hair glands so they get really oily, in addition to stunted growth and muscle development. His magic would have been affected too, so he's probably a stronger wizard than he's been performing. If he had seen any healers regularly, which he obviously had _not_ , this would never happen."

"Can you do something to clear it?" Rose asked.

"I don't know how to manage it, honestly," said the witch, "I mean, I know the basics, but I don't tend to treat these kinds of issues at Hogwarts. It's mostly fixing broken bones and jinxes, or potions and spells gone wrong. Chronic problems like this are not my forté."

"So he should go to St. Mungos?"

"He should, but we are unfortunately not authorized to just bring the child over for chronic problems. Acute issues that I am not equipped to handle, yes, I can authorize an immediate transfer, but for chronic health problems we need guardian approval."

Rose sagged. "That would be bloody annoying. Sorry, Severus."

Severus could not blame her. _Bloody indeed._ Rose had _no_ idea.

"See, look at this," and Rose was running her fingers through his hair again. "He's producing a _lot_ of this. If we don't resolve this problem, it won't just be those Gryffindors that bully him."

"We'll have to have Filius write to his parents."

"I'll talk to Filius. I have to talk to Horace too." Rose sounded miffed about the idea, but Madam Pomfrey did not pick up on it.

"Is there anything you can give him for the time being?"

"I don't know what to give him, Briar. Calming draught? He'd behave oddly all day and everyone will know something's wrong."

"Sleeping draught," Rose advised. "He always has nightmares after those brats pull stunts like this."

Severus frowned. _How does she know?_

"Dreamless sleep? He needs more slow-wave sleep anyway," Rose went on.

"Very well."

* * *

 

"You don't like Professor Slughorn," Severus said in a quiet voice as Rose escorted him to the Great Hall.

She raised a finger to her lips. "Don't tell anyone. I'd get in trouble."

Severus did not want her to get in trouble. "I won't. But…why?"

"He has some character flaws," she replied, her expression grim, "which I find revolting. But most important of all, he failed someone, someone who was very dear to me and who was entrusted into his care. This person was…eventually killed by the Dark Lord, all because his Head of House never bothered to…even do his job, really. Checking in on his students would have been sufficient, but he couldn't be bothered to do that. I will never forgive him for that."

"This person was a Slytherin?" Severus blinked. "He was killed by Grindelwald?" _I didn't know Slughorn was Head of House for that long…_

Rose was quiet.

Severus thought over the facts. "At the Sorting Ceremony," he looked at her, "the Hat…said that I had a concerned friend who had talked to it—him—er…it." It was a stretch, but… "Was that you?"

Rose looked at him, clearly impressed. "So it was," she said easily. "Are you frightened?"

Severus thought about that. "You're clearly a powerful witch, and I'm just a first-year. There's no reason for you to want to harm me, and if you did you could have done so earlier."

"You will be a powerful wizard." Rose said this like it was a guarantee. They reached the doors to the Great Hall. "Don't worry. Whatever happens, you'll always have an ally in me."

The faint, under-nurtured Slytherin side to Severus wondered if she was being too eager to befriend him, and whether he should be suspicious. She seemed so honest though, and so genuine… _Besides, what could she hope to gain from winning the trust of a first-year?_

_Maybe I remind her of that friend she had lost._

Rose parted to join the faculty table before he could pursue that thought further, and Terrace and Henry were running up to him, checking him over.

"You're alright!"

"Uh-huh," Severus nodded, and they dragged him over to join the Ravenclaw table, where Aidan ruffled his head and declared that he would use Severus's head as a mop.

 


	7. Interlude A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A LOT of hints as to who Briar Rose is in this one. I'm almost not sure I should have given so much away, but I think I've held you all in suspense for long enough.

**Briar Rose**

Interlude A

"Three letters so far, and all yielded nothing," Filius reported to the headmaster while Briar listened, "and each time the owl has returned with the letter delivered. It appears that the Snapes are not acknowledging our concerns at all."

"We will need to approach this carefully," Albus said, "or else we would be, as the muggles say, 'opening a can of worms'. What a delightful expression; as unpleasant in sound as what it is describing."

"We cannot ignore this, however," Filius pointed out, pushing his spectacles up his nose. "The boy is clearly ill, and yet the parents voice no concern."

"The boy is not crippled by his illness, as far as I can tell," said the Headmaster. "A bit of unpleasant hygiene and pallor at the most, and the rest speculation. He is doing well in classes and appears to get along with classmates. It would be difficult to prove that an investigation is needed, especially in light of his family's financial status and his father's muggle identity. The Ministry would be hard-pressed to act, and if we wish to pursue the case through the muggles, that's yet another avenue filled with twists and turns. It is all quite complicated indeed."

"So we cannot get parental approval for the healers, and we cannot go to the healers without parental approval," Briar frowned. "And we cannot use this as grounds to remove him from his parents' guardianship."

"Quite."

"It would be a mess even if we could," Filius pointed out. "Where would this child be placed, if not with his parents? It is his first year in school. He's still adjusting. Should we really unbalance his life, over something like this?"

"It heralds a bigger problem, though," Briar reminded him. "He might be being abused."

"He doesn't look abused," said Albus, which was really the biggest difficulty with the situation. Child neglect was poorly understood, and not everyone at this point in time had agreed on its classification as abuse. _1971 was a different time,_ Briar mused. "Not that I don't understand your concern, Professor, but you see my hardship."

"Is there any way we can provide the necessary potions for him here?" Briar asked.

"I suppose you can ask Horace," said Albus, "but officially, I doubt it. There are some matters in which Hogwarts may make decisions on behalf of its wards. In this matter, it is quite clearly the duty of his parents."

"A duty that they are failing."

"I agree," said Albus, "but a failure that would be hard to prove. Hogwarts does not lack for students hailing from below the poverty line, and living on meager means is quite different from deliberate avoidance of guardianship tasks. As much as I would like to see young Snape, as any student here, reach his full potential, I don't see how that can be done."

_Ahhhhh, there's the rub._ Briar looked at Albus, whose blue eyes looked guilelessly back. Albus was wary of another Grindelwald. _He knows. Of course he knows._ A wizard like Albus would be able to spot another powerful wizard very easily. Severus was still a child, and his power was only potential for now, but Albus had been teaching a good number of years. In the man's mind, he was still worried about the errant Tom Riddle, and what future that former student could wrought. Riddle, with his ratty shirts and trousers, probably did not look too unlike Severus when he was a first year, and Albus had watched as that boy grew from a little brat into a charismatic sociopath. It would be better, from his point of view, if this new, neglected, poorly taken-care-of child with sad eyes and defensive hunch remained timid and quiet, rather than a full-blown wizard capable of becoming a Dark Lord.

She clenched her jaw to rein in her anger. She could just imagine how it happened the first time, how Albus regarded yet _another_ Slytherin with similar qualities to Tom Riddle, and chose to leave him to his fate in the hopes that it would smother him before he could become a danger. _You conniving bastard._

But the problem was not that Albus had anything personal against Severus. Severus was an easy person to despise. He _looked_ wretched, and so helplessly so that he had inspired dislike almost on sight. As a Ravenclaw, this aspect was much-improved; back when he was a Slytherin, he was always hunched and miserable, exuding a thick aura of bitterness. At least the different House did wonders for his posture and his social skills. Albus was not without his own difficulties either; he had to watch these young children grow up to be murderous psychopaths, and was helpless to stop their development because so many deciding factors had been set before they even set foot on Hogwarts grounds. The only coping method he had was to dismiss whomever seemed beyond hope.

"If the source of his problem is at home," Albus looked at Briar, "then his stay at Hogwarts should be a cure in and of itself. You know how wizards and witches who had been removed from abusive environments recover quite quickly. Similar effects were described on muggle children, though they tend to recover more rapidly due to their lack of magic."

_Growth spurts and all,_ Briar nodded, though she tactfully chose not to mention this out loud. Severus was probably already healthier than he would have been as a Slytherin. He had been living with neglect and loneliness for eleven years. It might take more than a month for everything to clear up.

She wondered if he would _feel_ better with more management though. He was always indoors, studying with the other Ravenclaws. No sun, and his cheeks remained as sallow as always.

"There are limits to what we can do," said Albus, with a resigned air. "That is a fact of life, unfortunately."

* * *

Aidan Ho and a Gryffindor sixth year, Gideon Prewitt, was waiting in front of her office when she returned.

"Anything?" asked the Ravenclaw.

Briar shook her head. Aidan groaned.

"Are you sure we can't brew something for him on our own?" Gideon asked.

"Probably best not," Briar shook her head. "At least we know how he is now. Merlin knows what condition he'd be in if he ingested a potion gone wrong."

"True," said the Gryffindor.

"Maybe he'd get better on his own?" Aidan remarked, "It's only been two months, really. He's fitting in but he still looks twitchy. No thanks to _your_ house."

Gideon wrinkled his nose. "I turn my head the other way for one second, and those four blow something up. They're so popular with the first years though, and we don't want to quench morale."

"You don't need to keep them in line," Briar stated as she led the two into the office, "because ultimately, there will always be bullies and other nasties, so there's no point. As is with _you_ , Aidan, your studies are first and foremost."

Her office was small, filled with knick knacks to make it resemble the muggle world. There was an LP player and a cassette player. A blank spot on the windowsill signaled a missing item.

"Really?" Briar stared at the spot. "Did Fawkes steal my view master for Albus again?" It was alarming, sometimes, how much of a child the headmaster could be.

"Blast," said Aidan, "I was hoping to play with that."

Briar sat down in her chair. The students took seats in the three chairs opposite her desk.

"Studies first, kids. Don't go around worrying about the future when you have the present to worry about. How did exams go yesterday?"

"Glad they are over," Aidan flicked her Newton's cradle. "Merlin, transfiguration gave me a whipping this time around."

"Oh right," Gideon reflected, "fourth year transfiguration. I remember." He shuddered.

"I'm more eager to talk about Project Prince," said Aidan. "Like, what now? Because tomorrow's All Hallow's Eve, and you said something different happens on All Hallow's Eve."

_"What are you looking at, Evans?"_

_"Go away, Potter."_

_"She's looking for Snivellus again."_

_"Missing your Slytherin boyfriend, Evans?"_

_"He's not my boyfriend!"_

_"Pssh, leave her, Black. Let her keep looking. Doesn't matter to me, as long as he never dirties the feast with his presence."_

_Something **did** happen_ , Briar reflected. Severus never appeared at the feast. There were other Slytherins who were missing at first, but they arrived later. He never did. Lily had found Severus the next day. He had behaved oddly, and seemed unable to focus on what she was saying, answering her questions with vague responses only to forget what she had asked in the first place. There was a strange dimness to his eyes. It only lasted for a day, and the next day he was snapping at her to leave him alone. He had seemed like himself again, so Lily had obliged him.

"All Hallow's Eve has always been a bit tricky," Briar explained.

"Is it something to do with the dead?" Gideon asked.

"Kind of," said Briar.

The dead were timeless. Only the living worked with time. Even ghosts did not age or change, no matter what they witnessed as ghosts and whom they interacted with. They never grow as people, nor did they learn from their memories, even though they collected them. As for the regular dead, their perception spanned through all of time, past, present, and future, which can dramatically interfere with the changes of time travel.

The Butterfly Effect was not the biggest issue when traveling back in time. At least, not directly.

"But we have Halloween every year," Aidan pointed out. "What makes this Halloween so special?"

He was right. Briar had been in Hogwarts for a year already, and had cautiously passed through one Halloween without incident. Then again, she had not made any dramatic changes; certain interceptions were more serious than others, and she had been careful to adhere only to those that would right themselves on their own—or at least, the ones everyone had been able to calculate before she made the trip. Her first major action had been to arrange Severus' smooth introduction into Ravenclaw; the sorting itself would not likely have changed anyone's fate, least of all Severus's, because he could still be a Ravenclaw Death Eater just as Pettigrew had been a Gryffindor. In the grand scheme of things, as long as Severus became a Death Eater in his seventh year, and as long as everyone who had been alive remained alive at that point, while everyone who should be dead, such as the four muggleborn who were murdered so far, were dead, there would be no repercussions to balance out. The only change of consequence this time around was that Severus was _happy_ with his house, and had a solid support group that was independent of Lily. This, rather than the house he belonged to, was what would cause future events to deviate from Briar's old timeline.

Many other events were also flexible enough to lead to the same future path; Sirius Black did not have to remain on the side of light to ensure Voldemort's downfall. Horace Slughorn did not have to remain alive at all, nor did Quirrell, interestingly enough, because Voldemort could easily be introduced through another wizard. On the other hand, if James Potter ever decided to betray the Order, or if the Longbottoms died before Neville Longbottom was born, it would be disastrous. These were all things that the living, and even ghosts—who were not quite dead in the true classification—would be unable to visualize and understand.

The trouble with All Hallow's Eve was that even without the threat of a Dark Lord, people who should die tend not to, and people who should live tend…not to either. It was not something that happened frequently, but compared to a normal day, the odds of someone's fate being rewritten increased a thousand fold. It was why Voldemort chose to attack the Potters on Halloween of 1981, instead of some other random day. Harry had been predicted by a prophecy, and thus protected, in many ways, by destiny. October 31st was the one day this protection mattered the least.

Not that it did Tom Riddle much good, but Severus had no protection whatsoever. It would be just Briar's luck that on this day of all days, something might derail all her plans.

"I don't know if this year would be different from any other year," she told the students, which was true. "but there is more to lose this year than any other year so far. I'm not saying that we have to take any overt precautions, it's just I would like to keep on my guard tomorrow, compared to other days."

"Against what?" Aidan asked. "I mean, it sounds like we're going to have to watch out for…Death."

"You don't have to watch out for Death. It's silly and pointless."

And redundant, in the case of Aidan and Gideon. In the old timeline, Gideon and his brother, Fabian would be killed by Death Eaters, and Aidan would be killed in a crossfire between Aurors and Death Eaters—with the errant hex thrown by Frank Longbottom. After much discussion, it had been decided that saving these two would be of benefit, which was why Briar was willing to include their help and not Joshua, the Ravenclaw prefect who would likely have to die to ensure Voldemort's demise.

Peter Pettigrew had to live too. It irked her, but he was a vital player in Voldemort's hubris, which was necessary for him to be careless. Bellatrix Lestrange also needed to be protected, even if it meant keeping her out of Azkaban. Briar had no idea how she would be willing to do that when the time came, but certain lives should not be altered. They needed Pettigrew. They needed Lestrange. They needed all of the Malfoys.

They did not need Remus or Sirius, strangely enough. Briar did not even want to think about the mechanics of _those_ two variables.

"Because everyone dies," said Aidan with an overly dramatic smile. "Might as well go while watching the ghosts perform and surrounded by people who haven't turned into dark wizards yet."

Briar let out a breath. "Not a proper mood to be in on any weekend, let alone this one. What are you doing, cooping yourselves in here with me? Go play with your friends."

"Ravenclaws," said Gideon, "the Pessimists."

"We're not!"

"Yes you are."

"No we're not! Why else would we study so hard if we didn't think something would come out of it?"

"That's a good point," Gideon laughed as the two boys stood up, "you actually think something good would come out of books."

"Har har," Aidan made a face at the Gryffindor as they left.

Briar stared after them for a moment before flicking on the LP player. Which started with a rub, and then promptly stopped working.

"Really?" she sighed. "Figures."

* * *

Sunday morning, her wand broke.

While not exactly uncommon, wands do not frequently break either. It seemed a poor omen of what the day was going to be like, especially since she would need to get another wand from Ollivander. The wand that broke had actually come back in time with her, so Ollivander had never seen Briar Rose.

Or at least he should have never seen Briar Rose. Ollivander was one of those wizards that could probably take over the world if he really wanted to. He sold all the weapons that wizards needed, after all. Briar would not put it past him to fumble around the store just so customers were not unnerved by his acute assessments.

He would probably know Briar, hair and eyes notwithstanding.

_"I really can't wait! It's going to be marvelous. We should sneak down into the kitchens to see what the elves are cooking up…"_

James and Sirius were down the hall from her office, this time without the other half of the Marauders. Briar was not sure which was more awkward; talking to James or talking to Lily.

Probably James, but Lily came in a close second.

_"Do you want to wait for Remus and Peter?"_

_"Remus isn't feeling well. We probably should bring some stuff back for him in case he doesn't make it to the feast."_

Remus was not feeling well? _No, he did not turn yet. The full moon is in three days. This must be something else._ A cold, or something.

Odd. Briar did not recall Remus falling ill on this particular Halloween. Then again, she had not been paying attention, more concerned about Severus' absence at the feast, but she was certain…

_"Pssh…leave her, Black…"_ a turn of the sleeve, and… _Remus, chewing on a drumstick. He was there._

He could have felt ill in the morning and improved in time. Briar decided to make a note of this anyway. What happens to Remus was ultimately not as important as what happens to James, but Remus could affect James. Briar would not be able to keep track of _all_ the nuances of this particular timeline, but she would accept the bone when thrown one.

James and Sirius went further down the hall, their voices fading as they turned to make for the Hufflepuff dormitories. Briar left her office, broken wand tucked in her robes. She could make do with wandless magic, since her classes were all about muggles, but she could not keep that up indefinitely. Having a wand would be more efficient and save stamina.

_Floo to America? Floo to Germany? Floo somewhere else besides Ollivander's? Or take a risk?_ At this point in time, Voldemort was still new and unknown, a threat yet unseen and unwary of. Afterwards, this might change, but Ollivander operated on a code of ethics that, while others did not understand, did mean he practiced great discretion. He would not go as far as to sell unregistered wands, but someone like him would be able to tell if a dark wizard had arrived to purchase a legal wand. Even so, no Auror ever made an arrest based on Ollivander's testimony. He would likely keep silent about Briar, even if he knew.

_But is it worth it?_ Ollivander sold the best wands. Even the Americans had to concede to that. If Briar wanted a wand that fit her current abilities, she would be hard-pressed to find it anywhere else.

_Who knew that deciding weather to see an old vendor would be harder than deciding to risk Voldemort's defeat._ Probably because Briar had ways to ensure Voldemort's demise, as long as she was careful. What was she supposed to do about the wandmaker?

"Professor Rose!"

Briar turned, stomach plummeting, as Severus and Lily waved at her, approaching. Severus was smiling—it was a smile that was entirely absent from his countenance in the old timeline. He was already doing much better. Lily was more shy, though still friendly.

_Okay, maybe Lily._ Not that talking to James was necessarily _less_ awkward, but Briar really wanted to minimize contact with Lily. Good thing she always had zero interest in Muggle Studies, though if she changed her mind in this timeline, Briar might just have to resign. She was able to paste a reasonably amiable expression on her face, though she could not smile.

_God, you were so clueless as a child._ Though hindsight probably confounded Briar's own perceptions.

"Hello."

"Are you leaving Hogwarts for something? You'll be back in time for the feast, right?" Lily asked.

"Of course. Just a quick errand." _Diagon Alley? Or out of the country?_ "What are you two up to this morning?"

"I'm taking Severus to visit Hagrid," Lily beamed. "He has never met him before! It's a crime, is what it is!"

"Alright." _Please go away._ "Well have fun. Eat those rock cakes carefully now."

"Of course!"

Briar allowed the two to go on their way, staring at Lily's hair. _That is seriously red._ As an adult, Lily's hair became a little less bright. Briar had no idea why. _Maybe recommend a potion. No._ She turned away. _Seriously, not important. Would not live long enough to enjoy bright red hair anyway. Stupid._

But somehow, with Lily's young face fresh in her mind, Briar had an epiphany.

What if _Lily_ were to get the wand instead?

She played around with the idea for a while. The problem was that the Headmaster had eyes and ears all throughout the castle. _But if Tom Riddle could machinate without the headmaster knowing, surely I can too._

But this interference could be potentially disastrous. Lily Evans always had the same wand. A different one, in this lifetime, can cause drastic consequences.

_But then Ollivander didn't just make all the wands he would ever sell all at once. He could have made new ones that are just as compatible._

Or better ones that are even more compatible, which could be a problem. Someone had to die for Harry. Odds were that it would have to be Lily. She might have to go visit the Veil and talk to the others…

But without a wand, she stood no chance of sneaking into the Ministry.

_Get Lily's wand first. At least obtain a wand. Go to the Ministry first thing, and then if everyone says that she needs her own wand, you can give it back. Maybe after she gets a new wand? Maybe steal Dumbledore's spare, although he would know. Ugh._

She waved a hand up to summon. Peeves sailed through one of the walls, cooing, but much more subdued than he ever was. None of the ghosts enjoyed when Briar influenced them.

"I need you to commit a little mischief," said Briar.

Peeves guffawed when she gave him his orders, and sailed merrily through the walls to carry them out. Briar turned to head back to the office and came face to face with—Severus.

"Severus!" she exclaimed, jumping. _Snap. Not good._ Did he catch all of that?

"Sorry, Professor," Severus gave her a blank look. "I was just going to the loo before we go to Hagrid's."

Heart hammering, Briar remarked, "I see," and watched as the boy slipped quickly past her.

There was no way he did not witness what just happened. But he looked innocent. Severus had been a double agent, but only as an adult. Did he master the skills yet at this age already?

_Crud,_ Briar thought. _I might have to obliviate him._


End file.
